Who is She?
by The Girl Around The Corner
Summary: One night, a girl appears on Sasuke's door step.  This is their adventures.  Rated for safety.  Better then summery?
1. Chapter 1

Sasuke sighed as he changed his clothes to go to bed. He probably had the worst team ever and his sensei wasn't exactly much better. Naruto Uzumaki was a complete idiot and prankstar who had failed the exam. Sasuke couldn't believe Naruto had been allowed to join a team. Sakura Haruno was just a girl who went goo-goo-eyes when ever she saw him...just like that blonde haired girl and a bunch of others.

He shook his head slightly as he layed down on his bed and pulled the blanket over him. He lived on the outskirts of Konoha in a small house away from the main Uchiha Clan House. Too many bitter memories for him to live there. Sasuke closed his eyes and let the darkness engulf him as sleep claimed him. He would need all the sleep he could get for their first 'mission' tomorrow with Kakashi.

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'The stars are bright tonight,' thought a figure who wore a dark red, short sleeve dress as she walked towrds Sasuke's home, thought she didn't know it. Her dark hair was in two braids that hung over her shoulders, the ends curling slightly. Her bare left foot stepped on a sharp rock. She slipped and fell, tearing the skin of her foot and the outside of her calf.

The girl cringed in pain and bit her lips as a muffled scream came through her arm, not loud enough to be heard by anyone. She forced herself back up and continued to walk, putting as little weight as possible on her left leg. Once she reached the door to Sasuke's house, she sat down and leaned against the door, curling up. She cringed slightly, seeing the blood on her leg. There was nothing she could do about it, as of now. Tomorrow was another day.

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_Beep...beep...beep beep beep!_

Sasuke's hand slammed down on his alarm clock. He rolled over, annoyed at being woken up, and looked at the time on the clock. 5:00. Dawn was only an hour and a half away. He rolled out of bed, stretched his arms and found some clean clothes. Sasuke pulled his clothes on, one limb at a time.

He walked into the kitchen barefoot and opened the cupboard to get some breakfast. He then remembered that Kakashi had told them to not eat breakfast. Sasuke would not be the one to screw up at the beginning. Kakashi already didn't like his team, no need for his sensei to hate them more.

He went to the front door and glared at the smaller shoes next to the ones he wore daily. He really needed to throw his old shoes away. They wern't doing him any good. He glanced around the room, making sure everything was in place. He grabbed his bag and swung it onto his back and opened the door.

Sasuke lifted his foot and put it right back down in place, seeing a sleeping girl in front of him. She looked about six, no older then seven with black hair falling an inch past her shoulders in two braids. Subconciously, he thought, 'Her hair's the same color as mine.' He thought about waking her, but decided against it, seeing her bloodied foot and leg, he sighed.

He went back inside and grabbed some rags from a closet and got them wet in the kitchen. He also grabbed some bandages. He had enough lying around the place. It was a nuisance to have to get them from the store everytime you got hurt while you tained. On a whim, he went back and found some disinfectant. He went back towrds the door and saw his old shoes. He picked them up and went back outside.

Sasuke sat down next to the girl and wiped the blood away from her leg and foot with one rag, in the grey early morning light. He needed to hurry so that he wouldn't be late. He poured some of the disinfectant on the girl's leg and foot. Her face cringed and she moaned as the disinfectant did it's job of disinfecting. Sasuke wiped the leg and foot dry and began to wrap her foot and leg with the bandages he had brought out.

Sighing as he finished the job, he pushed his old shoes onto the girls feet and took all of the medical suplies and went back inside putting them where they went. He grabbed some food for the girl to eat when she woke back. 'Why did she have to show up on my door step? In the words of Shikamaru, 'how troublesome.'' Sasuke went back out and thought once more about waking the girl up. 'She might be a slow walker, then I would be late,' he reasoned with himself as he put the food in his bag. He then bent down and swung the girl onto his back.

Glancing at the bag on the ground, he picked it up and started off to the point where Sasuke would meet his team members, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno for their first training session with Kakashi Hatake. 'What am I going to do with this girl?' Sasuke thought as he neared the point where his path joined the one of which Sakura and Naruto walked, looking dazed.

"Good morning," said Sakura, one hand rubbing her eye, to rub away the sleep.

"Hey..." said Naruto, one arm out stretched, obviously still half asleep.

Sasuke was wide awake and said nothing as he walked forward towrds his two team mates, not really caring what they would say about the extra person. The three stood in a triangle facing eachother as the sun came up.

"Sasuke-kun," asked Sakura confusedly in the morning light. "Whose that on your back?"

"She was on my door step this morning," said Sasuke in his usual cold manner.

"So your going to take care of her?" said Sakura perking up. "That is so cool of you Sasuke-kun. So noble!"

"I have no intention on that," said Sasuke. "I shall take her to Hokage-sama after training." Sasuke laid the girl on the ground next to himself. 'She can keep the shoes,' he thought, looking as the girl curled up into a ball.

"Oh," said Sakura, her eyes downcast, her tone obviously affected.

Naruto hadn't heard any of this and was still half asleep as the sun climbed higher into the sky. He sat on the ground while Sasuke and Sakura stood, still asleep. After awhile, Sakura sat down, knees raised, he arms on top of them. Naruto was in the same position, except his arms were crossed, his head atop them, sleeping. The girl still slept. Finally, Naruto awoke.

Naruto shook his head a few times as he stood and looked at the sleeping girl who was still laying next to Sasuke's feet. "Hey, Sasuke," said Naruto in a confused tone. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"He doesn't," said Sakura, bonking Naruto on the head with her fist, trying to impress Sasuke obviously. "Sasuke-kun found her in front of his door this morning. Idiot."

"Hey, Sakura-chan," whined Naruto. "I didn't know that!" He was gripping his head where Sakura had hit him.

All of this, caused the girl whom Sasuke had found to jump as she awoke before pulling herslef into a ball, hands over her head. "D-don't hurt me!" she exclaimed, wondering where she was and why she was no longer in front of a door and who the people around her were.

"Sakura-chan," said Naruto. "She woke up."

Sakura turned around from where she had been standing and kneeled down next to the girl. "Hey there," she said. "Are you okay?"

Naruto leaned down next to Sakura and said, "Who are you?"

To Sakura, the girl said, "I think I am." To Naruto, she said, "My name is Rinji." To both she said, "Whose house did I fall asleep outside of? Who bandaged my leg?" She had noticed her bandanged leg and shoes. "And who put these shoes on me?"

"Sasuke-kun's house," said Sakura smiling. "He must of bandaged your leg and put the shoes on you. Didn't you Sasuke-kun?"

"I did," said Sasuke turning around the looking at the girl, Rinji.

Rinji stood up and walked in front of Sasuke. She bowed, arms in front of her as she said, "Thank you very much." She hesiated as she rose before adding, "Onii-san."

Sasuke almost looked suprised but he managed to keep the emotion hidden behind a stony face. He had never been called 'Onii-san,' by any one before. He was slightly shocked by it. He had hardly done anything for the girl. Just bandaged her up like most any decent person might. 'At least a decent Uchiha,' he thought.

The sun continued to rise as Sasuke got the food out of his bag and gave it to Rinji. "Thank you Onii-san," she said as she ate, sitting on the ground, legs crossed. She was studing her shoes when she looked up and noticed they were the same as Sasuke's. She sat next to Sasuke as him, Sakura and Naruto stood in front of their bags, waiting for Kakashi, though Rinji didn't know it.

Finally, a silver haired man came walking towrds them. "Hi fellows. Good morning," he said in an even tone waving.

"Your late!" shouted Naruto and Sakura, Naruto leaning forward and Sakura pointing an accusing finger at them.

"A black cat crossed my path so..." he said pointing with one hand. Naruto and Sakura simply growled in an annoyance at his answer. Kakashi coughed into his fist and said, "Let's move on..."

The four of them, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Rinji watched as Kakashi walked over to a tree stump with a clock on it. They were suprised Kakashi had said nothing about Rinji.

"Alarm set at twelve PM," Kakashi said, pushing the top of it.

The three Genin looked at the Jounin as he jingled two bells that had strings attached to them. "Today's topic is to get one of these bells from me," the Jounin explained. He jingled them again before continuing. "Whoever can't will have no lunch."

"What?" said one of the three Genin, most likely Naruto.

"I'm going to tie you there, and eat lunch in front of you," Kakashi continued, ignoring the remark.

Sakura clutched her stomach as it growled. Naruto clutched his face in distress as his did and Sasuke's face was down fallen as his did. 'So thast's why he said...' thought Sasuke. 'Don't eat breakfast,' thought Sakura.

"But wait, why are there only two bells?" Sakura asked, putting up two fingers in front of her.

Kakashi laughed a bit as he obviously smiled beneath his dark blue mask and said, "Since there's only two, at least one will have to be tied to the log. That person will fail since he failed to complete the mission. The person will go back to the academy," he explained as he jiggled the bells at the end part. "It might just be one, or all three," he continued as Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke got determined looks on their faces. "You can use your shuriken. You won't be able to get these unless you have the will to kill me." He finished by pulling the bells up inside his hand.

"But that's too dangerous, Sensei!" Sakura protested, extending her arms.

"Yeah! You couldn't even dodge that chalk eraser," interjected Naruto, hands behind his head, looking over confident. He was referring the trick he had pulled on their late Sensei from yesterday, when they had first met him.

"In society, those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more," said Kakashi. "Just ignore the guy with the lowest score." This changed Naruto's posture. "We're going to start, after I say, 'ready, start.'"

"Excuse me," said Rinji sticking her hand up in the air.

Kakashi looked over at her as if seeing her for the first time, which in fact he was. "Yes?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm neither a Ninja nor your student, so," she said. "What should I do?"

"Watch," said Kakashi. "Or do as you like. Just don't get hurt. Speaking of which, why are you here?"

"Onii-san brought me here," said Rinji pointing as Sasuke.

"Adopt someone Sasuke?" asked Kakashi, jokingly. Which only made Sasuke glare.

Naruto pulled a kunai out of his leg holder, spun it on his middle finger, grabbed it in his hand as he lunged forward towrd Kakashi, shocking Sasuke and Sakura as well as Rinji. He ran forward and next thing any of them knew, Kakashi was standing there holding Naruto's Kunai hand to the back of Naruto's head to the Kunai was pointing at it, his other hand holding Naruto's head, much to Sakura and Sasuke's amazement, Naruto's dismay and Rinji's horror.

"Don't get so hasty," said Kakashi darkly. "I didn't say 'start' yet."

Sakura and Sasuke backed away as Rinji crawled away. Kakashi released Naruto, pushed him forward and he (Naruto) grabbed his Kunai hand with his free one.

'No way,' thought Sakura. 'I couldn't see him at all.'

'So this a Jounin...' thought Sasuke, determination clear on his face.

'Wow,' thought Rinji. 'Onii-san's sensei is strong!'

"But," said Kakashi. "It looks like you have the will to kill me now." He laughed and thought, 'I can finally start liking you three. Maybe even that little girl.' "We're going to start," he said.

"Ready," Kakashi said. "Start!" The three Genin's jumped off and Rinji stood up and walked close to a bush where she sat down, cross legged.

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_A/N: Wow, I cannot believe I wrote so much! I'm amazed at myself. As you should be able to tell, this is starting right after team assignments in the Naruto series so please bare with me. This was the best spot to start in my opinion._

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto charecters, manga or anime. I also give credit to stuart07 from and his Naruto anime uploadings which I watched as I wrote this. Namely, episode four for the chapter.**

In the next chapter:

The training begins and Rinji suprises everyone including herself!

Edited: 2007-July-12


	2. Chapter 2

'A basic, for a Ninja, is to conceal his presence and hide,' thought Kakashi one hand behind his neck.

Sasuke layed on his stomache under a bush, Rinji completly put out of his mind. A Kunai was clutched in one of his hands, almost parrallel to the ground. Sakura was the same, except without a Kunai and under a different bush.

'Good,' thought Kakashi. 'Everyone is hiding nicely...' He looked up and there stood Naruto, arms crossed across his chest.

"Let's have a match fair and square!" shouted Naruto.

"That idiot," muttered Sasuke softly from his new position in a tree.

'He really is stupid like Sakura-san said,' thought Rinji standing up.

"Hey, arn't you a little weird compared to the rest?" said Kakashi to Naruto, eyeing him with his one uncovered eye.

"What's weird is your hair style!" Naruto countered. Naruto started to run forward towrd Kakashi. Kakashi's hand slipped into the pouch on his hip and Naruto stopped running, breathing hard even from such a short run.

"Ninja tactic know-how number one, Taijutsu," said Kakashi. "I'll teach you that first."

Naruto gasped as Kakashi started to pull something out of his hip pouch. 'Isn't taijutsu where a ninja fights hand-to-hand without a weapon? But he is going to use a weapon?' though Naruto fiercely.

"Taijutsu," murmered Rinji paying careful attention to whatever it was Kakashi was going to say about Taijutsu.

Kakashi pulled an orange book out of the pouch. _Icha Icha Paradise, _was the title. Naruto looked confused as Kakashi flipped the book open to the page he was on, the book lowered and in one hand. "What's the matter?" Kakashi said. "Come and get me."

"But, um, um... Why did you take out a book?" asked Naruto.

'Taijutsu is where you fight while reading abook?' though Rinji in confusement. That was stupid. You could get hurt easily like that. Unless you only pretended to read... A chibi Kakashi and a chibi Naruto appeared in the seven year old's mind, each holding an orange _Icha Icha Paradise _book in one hand, a Kunai in the other. Chibi Naruto ran at Chibi Kakashi and the C. Naruto tripped over C. Kakashi and fell on face. C. Kakashi tripped over his own foot and landed on C. Naruto who had x's on his eyes. Rinji ended up laughing at this thought.

"Why?" said Kakashi. "I got curious as to how the story will develop. Don't worry about it. It's the same whether I read this or not."

Naruto's hand clutched into a fist out of anger. "I'm going to pound you!" he yelled as he ran towrds Kakashi for the third time in one day, holding the shoulder of the arm that was in a fist. He jumped forward to hit Kakashi only to be blocked by Kakashi's unbooked hand. He landed in font of Kakashi.

"Damn," said Naruto angerly, moving into the next attack. "Round house kick!" Kakashi ducked missing the kick and Naruto went in to punch the crouched Kakashi but missed. Kakashi had vanished. "Ahh, Damn it," shouted Naruto.

"Wow," whispered Rinji. She had never seen anything like this before.

"Huh?" said Naruto, blinking to the spot where Kakashi had been seconds before and no longer was, his fist out stretched.

"A ninja should not let the enemy get behind him multiple times, idiot," scolded Kakashi who was crouched behind Naruto, his book closed between his two hands which were in a hand seal.

'His hand posture is... The seal of the tiger?' thought a confused Sakura from her positon under the bush. 'Is he going to use a high ninjutsu against Naruto?' The last part came in a rush.

'The seal is for... Fire elements,' thought Sasuke from his hiding place as he watched the scene. 'That teacher isn't just going to run around?'

"Naruto! Run!" yelled Sakura sticking her head up. "You're going to die!"

"Heh?" said Naruto turning from his positon to where Sakura's voice had come from.

"You're too late," said Kakashi as Naruto looked over his shoulder.

"Hidden village of Konoha's secret Taijutsu master art...!" shouted Kakashi. "A Thousand Years of Pain!" Kakashi stabbed Naruto in the butt with his hands in the Tiger Seal positon and pushed a screaming Naruto into the air. Naruto then clutched his butt.

"Oh, it wasn't a Ninjutsu," said Sakura, annoyed at herself.

"Two idiots," said Sasuke leaning on his arms which was connected to his hand whose palm was against a tree where he hid.

Naruto fell into the nearby pond and Kakashi opened his book, saying, "Let's see..." and proceeded to read.

Sasuke's hand went to his Kunai pouch and hovered over it.

'His strength is so unfair,' though Sakura. 'What are we supposed to do?'

"Your cool Kakashi-san," said Rinji who was standing right by Kakashi looking up under his arms and into his one eye.

"Thank you," he said, smiling and closing his one visible eye.

_Jingle...Jingle..._ Kakashi opened his eye to see Rinji holding up a bell and smiling. She asked, "Did I do it right Kakashi-san?"

"Yes, very good," said Kakashi unable to keep annoyance completly out of his voice as he took and tied the bell back with the other one. "You earned your lunch."

Rinji smiled as she hopped off back towrds his spot on the edge of the clearing, clearly proud of herself.

'If she can do it, so can I,' thought Inner Sakura. 'Cha!'

Two Shuriken's flew out of the water and towrds Kakashi. Sakura appeared shocked. A reading Kakashi lifted up hand the two Shuriken's landed on his first and middle finger, still spinning.

An amazed Sasuke dropped his hand from where it had been poised above his Kunai pouch.

A coughing, wet Naruto crawled out of the pound looking at the ground.

"What's wrong?" said Kakashi, teasing Naruto, cruelly. "You won't get any lunch if you don't get a bell by noon. Rinji got one."

"I already know!" complained Naruto sitting on the ground. 'That little girl got one?' he thought. 'Yeah right!'

"You said you're going to succeed the Hokages, but your actions say otherwise."

"Damn it! Damn it! I can still fight even if I'm hungery!" Naruto argued with his growling stomach.

Sasuke's face squished up as his own stomach growled. Sakura looked pathetic as her's did. 'I also skipped dinner last night. I should not of tried going on a diet,' thought Sakura.

"I was just off guard a while ago!" yelled Naruto, waving his arms in the air as he kneeled by the rocks surrounding the pond.

"Damn it, I'm hungry so my powers are..." said Naruto as his stomach growled again. He had put his arms down in front of him. "But I have to get a bell no matter what. I can't... I can't fail at a place like this no matter what," said Naruto angerly, eyeing the back of a reading Kakashi. "I'm going to become a ninja!"

Behind Naruto, other Narutos, or rather clones, jumped out of the water. "Hm?" said Kakashi, glancing over his shoulder as Narutos came towrd him.

'What?' thought Rinji. 'How is that possible?'

"Heh, heh!" said one of Narutos. "Security is your greatest enemy! This is my best Jutsu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

'There's seven Narutos...?' thought Sakura, throughly confused. 'What? There not afterimages? They are all real.'

Sasuke peered down from his tree, amazed, but hiding it well.

"Huh?" said Kakashi turning to look at the Naruto's running towrd him. "Shadow replications instead of just a replication? It must be the forbidden technique he used to beat Mizuki." Louder, he said, "Assuming from his abilites, he can only use that for a minute. Even if he talks big, Naruto is still Naruto. He can't get me with that technique."

The bells tied to Kakashi's waist jingled. "What?" exclaimed a suprised Kakashi. "From behind?" A Naruto had indeed grabbed Kakashi from behind, suprising him greatly.

Sasuke looked out at Naruto. His mouth slightly agape in amazement. Sakura the same. The Naruto grabbing Kakashi from behind laughed. "A ninja shouldn't let the enemy get behind him, right, Kakashi-sensei?" As the other Naruto's clinged onto Kakashi, a Naruto jumping towrds Kakashi from the front, continued. "I used the Shadow Replication, let the one sneak out of the lower part of the river, and made it sneak behind you!" As he readied a punch, Naruto said, "I'm going to pay you back for that attack on my butt!"

'Naruto's pretty good!' thought an amazed Sakura happily.

'Maybe he isn't completly dumb after all,' though Rinji.

'A feint operation, eh?' though Sasuke, smirking happily.

"I'm going to punch you!" shouted Naruto, pulling his arm back. Blood flew as Naruto punched a Naruto being held by another Naruto. "Huh?" said the suprised punching Naruto who had been sure his punch would of landed.

'The one you got hit is...' thought Sakura. "Naruto?" Sasuke gave his what-the-heck look.

"Ouch!" shouted the Naruto who had been puched as he landed on the one who had held him.

"You..." said one Naruto. "You must be Kakashi-sensei! You transformed, didn't you!" shouted another, pointing an accusing finger at another Naruto clone. A mass fight broke out as each clone insisted that another was Kakashi. One insisted that another one smelled like Kakashi-sensei.

'Weirdo's,' thought Rinji sitting down. 'Why not just make the clones go away?'

"Hey, why don't we undo the replication?!" one clone finally suggested. "Two will reamain and we'll know who it is!"

"Why didn't you notice that idiot?" asked a Naruto who being held by his collar by the Naruto who had suggested undoing the Jutsu.

"You're me, idiot!" the first shouted.

"I'm going to undo it now," said Naruto. "Okay," came the response. Same came from the original Naruto as he undid the Jutsu. Only he remained, standing alone, beat up by himself. He looked pathetic.

'Naruto... looks so uncool,' though Sakura from her hiding place.

'That was the replacement technique, idiot,' thought Sasuke. 'It's an technique when one used an object or an animal to quickly change places with it, and makes the enemy think you were hit. Then, you are able to attack the enemy's unguarded point. For his case, the Jounin got caught by Naruto on purpose, and quickly changed places with one of Naruto's replications. Not only did he give the impression he was hit, he used Naruto's attack to his advantage.'

Naruto stood forlornly in the middle of the field, a bell off to his side. "A bell?!" said Naruto amazingly as the sun glinted off the shiny edge of the bell. "He must've been in a hurry if he dropped a bell," Naruto reasoned with himself. He ran forward and just before picking the bell up, a rope started moving. It was tied around Naruto's ankles and pulled him upside down. "What's this!?" he yelled as he bounced around.

'It's a trap,' thought Sasuke.

"Hey," said Naruto. "Hey."

'That Jounin showed no unguarded point even when fighting with Naruto.'

"The bell," said a red faced Naruto as blood drained towrds his head. He reached his hands down and up, waving them wildly as he tried to get the bell which laied below his head.

Kakashi bent down to pick up the bell. With his hand apon it he said, "Use your techniques after thinking carefully. That's why it was used to your disadvantage. And... don't fall for an obvious trap, stupid."

An angery Naruto clutched his fists by his head as he hung upside down.

"Ninja's need to think beyond the normal," Kakashi said finishing his lecture.

"I already know!" yelled Naruto angerly.

"I'm telling you because you don't, got it?" Sasuke looked suprised. "Your movements are filled with unnecessary motions."

'This is my chance!' thought Sasuke fiercely. He threw multiple Kunai and Shuriken from where he was in a tree. 'He finally dropped his guard!'

"You're so... Oh...?" said a suprised Kakashi as the Kunai and Skuriken hit him.

"Oh!" gasped Sakura as they did so.

"Bwhaaa!" shouted a shocked upside down Naruto. "He got hit! Sasuke overdid it!"

Kakashi fell backwards, some blood flying off.

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_A/N: _And cut! That's a wrap for today. I'm amazed, 2 chapters of over 2000 words in one day. Well, following the episode does help. People I am sorry about that and I hope to include Rinji more but I need to figure out how. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. 

**Disclaimer: Same as before. Oh, please don't sue me!**

In the next chapter:

The fate of Kakashi!

Edited: 2007-July-12


	3. Chapter 3

Just before Kakashi hit the ground, smoke filled the area around him and then cleared, a green log appearing with Kunai's and Shuriken's stuck in it. The log hit the ground with a clang.

'Damn it, he used another replacement?' thought Sasuke running through the trees. 'He must of determined my location from that Shuriken attack.' He bounced off of a log. 'He dropped his guard on purpose. I fell for his trap.'

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'Where did Kakashi san go?' wondered Rinji from where she sat.

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"There he is," said Kakashi softly from where he hid in a bush. He reached into his hip pouch.

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'Where is Sasuke-kun?' thought Sakura as she ran through the forest looking for Sasuke. 'Did Sensei already get him...? No, that can't happen to Sasuke-kun.' She reasoned this with herself. Sakura saw Kakashi standing in a small clearing reading his orange book and she fell to her hands and her knees behind a bush with a gasp. 'I'm safe. He didn't notice me.'

"Sakura, behind you," said a voice. "Huh?" said Sakura as she turned around and then gasped when she saw that the voice had belonged to Kakashi. She screamed.

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"'Ninja's need to think beyond the normal?'" quoted Naruto from where he hung by his ankles in the tree. He wiggled and said, "Damn it, I'm never going to fall for his traps again." He pulled his upper body up as he said this and with a Kunai cut the ropes around his ankles. As he fell he circled and landed on his feet, Kunai arm out of the side, the other one of the ground to help him balance.

"I fell for it!" he yelled as another rope pulled him up, but one ankle only this time.

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Kakashi did a Hand Seal and leaves swirled around a sleepy looking Sakura whose long bubble gum pink hair blew in the wind. The leaves swirled above her and then they disappeared, leaving her alone in a field. "What? What was that? Hey, where did Sensei go?" asked a confused Sakura as she looked around, looking for any trace if Kakashi. "What's going on? What the?" she said, a finger on her chin and then her hands on her head, looking around, disgruntled.

"Sakura..." said a voice.

"Sasuke-kun?" said a suddenly happy Sakura as she whirled around.

Sasuke was on his knees, one hand on a tree, the other between his legs on the ground, trying to keep himself up. Blood was every where and Kunai and Shuriken stook out at various points. "Sakura..." he said again, weakly. "Help me..."

A horrified Sakura had tears in the corners of her eyes. They streamed out as she put her arms in the air, screaming before promptly fainting.

Kakashi, who was in a tree over looking a fainting Sakura as he read his book, thought, 'Maybe I overdid it.' He turned a page. 'But she should of noticed if it was real or not.'

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Sasuke turned around in a clearing to face the direction from which Sakura's voice had come. 'That must've been Sakura's voice,' he thought.

The bells which the three Genin were supposed to get jingled as Kakashi said, "Ninja tactics know-how number two, Genjutsu. Sakura fell for it so easily." He was looking at his book, apparently reading it.

'Genjutsu, eh? A type of hallucinatory mind-controlling technique. It's no wonder if she fell for it easily,' Sasuke thought before saying, "But... I'm different from them."

"Why don't you say that after you get a bell?" challenged Kakashi who was reading as he leaned on a tree behind Sasule. He turned and walked towrds Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun." The name and honorific were in a sing-song tone. Sasuke turned around to face his book reading sensei.

The two stared at eachother for a full minute before Sasuke reached into his back pocket and threw a Shuriken which Kakashi easily dodged by jumping to the side. "There's no use in just using normal attacks," said Kakashi. Sasuke smirked at this as he threw another Shuriken that cut a rope. "A trap?" said a sliding Kakashi in wonderment. He jumped out of the way of Kunai's which hit a tree.

"What?" said Kakashi, still in shock as Sasuke appeared behind him and attempted a kick at his sensei. The head aimed kick was blocked by Kakashi with his arm.

**----------------------------------**

Rinji frowned. She was bored. She stood up and wandered into the forest. She heard Sasuke's name be said and followed the voices until she came upon a clearing and saw Kakashi block Sasuke's kick.

"Wow," she whispered. "Onii-san's different then that other guy."

Kakashi grabbed Sasuke's ankle but Sasuke swung himself around in a punch attempt. Kakashi grabbed Sasuke's fist. With his other foot, Sasuke kicked at the top of Kakashi's head but was blocked again. Kakashi had dropped Sasuke's foot to block his own head. The bells jangled and Sasuke smirked.

"He's..." said Kakashi as Sasuke reached out a hand to grab a bell. His fingers touch the very edge of a bell but Kakashi jumped backwards, just in time, so Sasuke could not get the bell. Sasuke righted himself as he landed on his feet.

'What a guy,' Kakashi thought. 'I didn't have time to read _Icha Icha Paradise._'

**----------------------------------**

A dazed Sakura awoke and sat up, pushing herself with her arms. "Huh...? What was I...?" she said dazedly. Her knees snapped together as she gasped, chin touching her chest, hands on her knees where she sat. Her head popped up and her eyes opened as she remembered. 'Oh, yes... I saw Sasuke-kun badly injured and I...' She stood up, clenched fists to her chest and yelled, "Sasuke-kun! Don't die and leave me behind!" She gazed around. "Where are you!?"

**----------------------------------**

Naruto was still hanging upside down. He had his free leg crossed over his tied one and his arms crossed, his eyes squished up. Rinji had left and now he had no one to see his miraculous escape. Maybe that was best, especially if he got caught in another trap. No! That would not happen!

"Huh? So that's how it looks behind the logs," said Naruto swaying slightly as he looked at a rock with two box lunches upon it. "There's lunch on the rock! 'Ninja's need to think beyond the normal,' eh?'" he said quoting his Sensei again. He laughed, a fake evil laugh.

**----------------------------------**

"I'll admit your different from the other two," called out Kakashi to Sasuke whom he faced.

Sasuke quickly did a series of hand signs as he got ready to fight, determination on his face. "Horse," he called out. "Tiger!" He leaned back, as if taking a big breath and half thought, half said, "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

'What?' thought a really amazed Kakashi as he braced himself. 'That technique isn't something a genin can do... He shouldn't have enough chakra.'

Sasuke put a half fisted hand to his mouth and exhaled, fire blazing out, forming a huge ball in the area in front of him where Kakashi had been standing. The attack diminshed. 'He's gone!' thought a shocked Sasuke. 'Is he behind me? No, above?' Sasuke looked around, francticaly. 'Where is he?' If anyone had heard Sasuke's thoughts, they would of heard panic in his voice.

"Beneath you," said Kakashi firmly before reaching up from under the ground and grabbing Sasuke's ankle with his hand.

"Wha..?" said Sasuke whirling his head around and looking down.

"Doton Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu," said Kakashi.

Sasuke screamed as he was pulled down, dirt flying up around him.

Kakashi's bells rang as kneeled down in front of a buried Sasuke. The only part you could see of him was his head. "This is the third ninja tactic know-how, Ninjutsu," said Kakashi. "How is it? Can't move, right?" There was mocking in his tone, though slight. Sasuke turned his head. "Looks like your talents are exceptional," Kakashi continued. He stood up. "But... They say stakes that point out get driven back into the ground." He had turned around as he said this and began to walk away. Kakashi pulled out his book and began to read again.

"Damn it," said Sasuke as he turned to look forward again.

Once Kakashi was gone, Rinji crept from her hiding place and up to Sasuke. "Are you okay, Onii-san?" she asked as she kneeled down in front of her.

"Do I look okay?" Sasuke snapped at the girl. "Why are you here anyway? Why don't you just go home and leave me alone? I'm not your older brother! Why couldn't you of fell asleep on someone else's door step? I have other stuff to worry about other then a stupid, little, smart ass girl!" Sasuke was mad. He was mad Kakashi had beat him and that he not gotton a bell. It didn't help matters much by the fact that Rinji had with hardly trying. Hunger did't help Sasuke and seeing as Rinji wasn't hungery and would be getting lunch just made him even more mad. "Just go away!"

Rinji sniffled. Tears came to her eyes. They started to roll down her cheeks as she stood up and started to run. As she ran she cryed, she ran back towrds the area where the training had first started.

**----------------------------------**

Naruto was stitting on the rock which turned out to a monument, leaning against it and rubbing his hands as he laughed. His legs were spread out and the two lunches were stacked on top of eachother between them. "All I have to do is eat this while hiding instead of getting a bell," said Naruto aloud. "Itadakimase!" he said, rubbing his hands still.

"Hey," said Kakashi from atop the monument, above Naruto and looking down. Naruto's eyes went wide with fear and shock as he realized his sensei had caught him.

"That was a joke and..." said Naruto quietly.

"Too late!" yelled Kakashi.

**----------------------------------**

'Damn it,' though Sasuke. 'We're this different...?' He looked out angerly and then dropped it and turned his head to see Sakura run into the clearing from the forest, leaves scattering about her.

"Hah," said Sakura breathlessly, freezing in mid step as she turned and saw Sasuke's head sticking out of the ground, her eyes bugging out. She almost lost it but regained. Sakura was still freaking out though.

"Sakura," said Sasuke innocently from the ground looking up at Sakura.

"Bwaaaaaaah!" yelled Sakura grabbing and shaking her head. "Now it's a severed head!" Then, she did faint.

"What's wrong with her?" said Sasuke.

**----------------------------------**

Her vision was fuzzy, but, as it cleared she realized that Sasuke was leaning over her. "Sasuke-kun?" she asked in wonderment as she layed there. "You are okay!" she shrieked sitting up and hugging the crouching Sasuke.

"Don't get so close," he quickly said, protesting the hug. Sasuke pushed Sakura away but Sakura kept trying to cling onto him.

**----------------------------------**

Sasuke stood up. "There's little time left until noon. I'm going."

He stared to walk away and Sakura stood up. "Sasuke-kun, are you still going after a bell?"

He turned around to look at her. "I was able to touch it a while ago. I can get it."

"What?" said Sakura, amazed. Her hands went up, clutched together under her chin a few inches. "Is that so? Your amazing Sasuke-kun." '"Shoot! I can't get a bell from that teacher! At this rate, I'm going to be seperated from Sasuke-kun!"' yelled Inner Sakura. Sakura said aloud, "Um... Since we only have a little time left, why don't we try harder next time and give up for now?"

Sasuke glared and Sakura gasped slightly, out of shock. Sasuke turned and Sakura looked crestfallen. Images of Sasuke's bother, Itachi, flashed across Sasuke's mind, of his Sharingan. "Only I can kill that man," said Sasuke as the wind blew.

"Eh," said Sakura as the wind blew her hair around. "What? You mean Sensei?"

"I was crying at the time..." said Sasuke to Sakura, still in that same deep and determined voice.

"Crying...?" said Sakura in wonderment.

"My..." said Sasuke.

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Sakura. She was hoplessly confused.

"I'm an avenger," said Sasuke simply, pocketing his hands. "I must become stronger then him. I don't have time to stumble here."

The bell rang. "Damn it," said Sasuke. "I wasted my time talking." He turned and started walking.

"Sasuke-kun..." said Sakura softly as she looked at Sasuke walking away.

**----------------------------------**

Naruto stood, tied to a pole. Sakura was on his left, sitting on the ground and Sasuke to the right, also sitting. All three of them had rumbling stomaches.

"Your stomache's are rumbling, eh?" said a crossed arm Kakashi. Rinji stood to his side, rubbing her eyes and nose. "By the way, about the results of this training... None of you need to return to the Ninja Academy."

Naruto smiled, amazed and obviously happy from where he was tied.

"What? But all I did was faint," said Sakura. "Was that okay?" '"Love prevails, damn it!"' yelled Inner Sakura triumphantly.

Sasuke simply smirked as Sakura stood up and yelled with glee as she jumped up and down.

"Does that mean we three...?" asked Naruto, smiling and waving his legs.

"Yeah, you three," said Kakashi, smiling and closing his one showing eye. "Should quit being ninjas!" It was shrap and rude and loud. "Except Rinji, she should definetly go to the Academy and start to train." He didn't completly mean that. He just wanted to spite his students. That was Kakashi for you.

The cheering stopped. Sakura still had her arms in the air and looked horror stircken. Sasuke angry and Naruto had his mouth open, gaping. Sakura's arms dropped.

* * *

_A/N: _Well there. Chapter three. How'd I do? Still not to much Rinji, should be more in the next few chapters. 

**Disclaimer: Same as before except Episode 5.**

In the next chapter:

Kakashi's cruelty, two surpries and Rinji's help!

Edited: 2007-July-14


	4. Chapter 4

"Quit being ninjas? What do you mean?" demanded Naruto, flailing his legs. "We couldn't get a bell, but why do you say we should we quit!?"

"It's because you three are kids who don't even deserve to be ninja's," explained Kakashi paitently.

Sasuke glared and clenched his teeth. He stood up and ran towrds Kakashi, one arm out.

"Weh?" gaped Naruto, staring.

"Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura staring at the scene.

Kakashi was sitting on the small of Sasuke's back. He had one foot on Sasuke's head and the other on the ground. Kakashi had was holding of Sasuke's arms across Sasuke's back. The other arms was against the ground. "See?" said Kakashi. "You all are just kids."

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" yelled Sakura at Kakashi.

Sasuke grimaced and Kakashi continued, ignoring Sakura. "Do you guys think being a ninja is easy? Why do you think we're training by breaking up into groups?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"In other words," said Kakashi. "You three don't understand the answer to this test."

"The answer?" said Naruto, his face squinched up in concentration.

"That's right," said Kakashi. "The answer to determine whether you pass or fail."

"We've been asking what that is..." said Sakura.

"Geez, are your brains empty? You don't understand why you're all in a group?"

"So what about three people being in a group?" yelled Naruto. He was fustrated that Kakashi kept eluding the answer.

Kakashi ignored Naruto and decided to answer Sakura's earlier question. "Keep on asking Sakura. Just try asking another person."

"But we've asked every one. I don't know it. Naruto doesn't know it and sadly Sasuke-kun doesn't," said Sakura.

"Who else is there?" demanded Naruto, kicking his legs again.

"Her," said Kakashi pointing simply at Rinji who looked up at Kakashi.

"Me?" she asked amazed.

"Yep. Remember our earlier talk?"

_"Why are you crying?" asked Kakashi to a sitting Rinji. He had just finished tieing up Naruto and was now waiting for the bell to ring. It was almost noon. The other two had probably given up._

_"Onii-san is mean to me," said Rinji, trying to wipe away her tears._

_"Oh is he now," said Kakashi squatting down. "Why?"_

_"He yelled at me and called me mean things and told me to go away," said Rinji. She liked talking to Kakashi._

_"I bet you know something he doesn't," said Kakashi._

_"What?" asked Rinji in disbelief. How could Sasuke know something she didn't?_

_"What do you think of this test?"_

_"It reminds me of a game where you have to get the other teams flag. Like your one team and the others are another. Each team is supposed to work together to get the flag. But they arn't. It's like you have both flags and they need to get one before the bell rings. It's like their mad so they won't work together when they need too. They'll never get a bell from you by themselves. If they tried together though they could."_

_"And their's your answer," said Kakashi, smiling._

Rinji grinned. "I do remember. But I won't tell them unless Onii-san says he's sorry."

"Come on Sasuke, say your sorry," said Naruto quickly, wanting to know the answer.

"Never," said Sasuke. "She thinks she's better then us. Kakashi probably told her the answer."

"He didn't, he didn't!" whined Rinji. "I already knew it. He just told be the right word for it."

"Well then," said Sasuke sneering. "If your so smart, tell us."

"Say sorry!"

"Then you don't know it," Sasuke sneered triumphantly.

"I do! It's Teamwork!" As soon as she said it, Rinji gasped along with the others her hands going over her mouth. She had not ment to say that. It was all Onii-san's fault!

"You mean cooperate with eachother?" asked Sakura, a bit dazed from both the answer and the arguement between the squashed Sasuke and Rinji.

"That's right," said Kakashi. "But even if you notice now, it's too late. If all three of you had come at me once, you could have gotton a bell. But that's too bad." The bells jingled.

'Wait,' thought Sakura. "Why do we need to use teamwork when there's only two bells? If three people work hard to get the bells, one will still have to bite the bullet. A group conflict will occur instead of teamwork," insisted Sakura.

"Of course. The test tried to put you three against each other," said Kakashi,

"What?" asked Naruto.

"In this situation, we select those who can prioritize teamwork before themselves. That was the purpose, but all of you were pathetic. Sakura! You cared more about Sasuke then Naruto, even though Naruto was right in front of you and you didn't know where Sasuke was."

Sakura blushed slightly as she was railed out by her sensei.

"Naruto!" Kakashi continued. "All you did was work on your own. And you," he said looking down at Sasuke. "You assumed that those two were only going to burden you and did everything yourself. Missions are done in groups. It's true that ninja's need well developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that's much more important. An individual action that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or even death for other team mates. For example..." he reached into his pouch with his free hand. Out came a Kunai. "Sakura! Kill Naruto, or Sasuke's going to die!" he yelled to Sakura, holding the Kunai to Sasuke's head.

Both Sakura and Naruto panicked. Naruto's eyes and mouth were wide, going from Sensei to team mate, back and forth quickly.

"That's what will happen," said Kakashi. He removed the Kunai from Sasuke's throat, Sasuke closed his eyes in relief.

"Oh, you suprised me..." said Sakura, slumping as she sighed in relief.

Twirling his Kunai on his finger, Kakashi continued. "After someone is taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision, and someone will die." He put the Kunai away. "In every mission, you put your life on the line." He let Sasuke's arm go and got off him and started to walk away from his three Genin and Rinji.

Sasuke stayed on the ground, furious.

"Look at this..." Kakashi had walked up to the memorial. "The numerous names carved into this stone. All these names are those praised as heroes in this villiage."

"I like that! I like that!" said Naruto in glee from where he was tied. "I've decided that I'm going to have my name carved into that. A hero! A hero! I'm not going to die a useless death!"

Sasuke had stood and returned to his place next to Naruto.

"But they are not normal heroes," said Kakashi.

"So what kind of heroes are they?" asked Naruto excitedly. When his sensei said nothing, Naruto insisted, "Come on, tell me."

"Those who were K.I.A," said Kakashi.

Naruto looked confused and then brightly said, "K.I.A?"

"Those who were killed in action," said Sakura gravely.

Naruto looked crestfallen. Sadly, he turned his head.

"This is a cenotaph," Kakashi explained. "The names of my friends are carved in here as well."

Sakura looked sad, Naruto sadly suprised and Sasuke kept an even look. Rinji looked sorry for Kakashi. Was he all alone?

"I'll give you one more chance," said Kakashi looking over his shoulder. "However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up to the challenge. But! Don't let Naruto eat."

"Eee," said Naruto.

"This is punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat lunch early," said Kakashi walking forward as he did. "If anyone feeds him, the person will automatically fail. I'm the rule here, got it?"

**----------------------------------**

Sasuke took a bite of rice and so did Rinji and Sakura. Naruto's stomach simply groaned loudly.

"I'm okay even if I don't eat!" insisted Naruto. "I'm okay!" His stomach growled again. "Okay..." he said resigned.

Sasuke chewed, swallowed and then looked up at Naruto's fallen face from where he sat. "Here," said Sasuke holding out the lunch. "And Rinji, I'm sorry."

Rinji looked up. "It's okay Onii-san. You were mad. It's okay," she said.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun! Sensei just said that..." said Sakura, suprised.

"Don't worry. I don't sense him nearby," said Sasuke looking down. "We three are going to get the bells together. It's only going to be trouble if Naruto's hungry."

'Sasuke-kun,' thought Sakura, picking up and looking at her own tray of food. She gulped.

"Good luck getting the bells," said Rinji smiling and popping a bite of rice into Naruto's mouth with her own chop sticks, stretching up on tip-toe. Naruto thanked her and smiled.

Sakura walked over to Naruto and held out her tray of food to a shocked Naruto.

'Sakura-chan,' thought Naruto, tears in his eyes.

Sakura smiled kindly, none of them realizing that Kakashi stood behind a tree

"Thanks," said Naruto, his voice shaking.

"You don't need to thank me," said Sakura hurridely. "Just eat quickly."

"But, umm..." said Naruto.

"I'm on a diet... I mean, I eat less then Sasuke-kun, so don't worry about it."

"But," said Naruto. "See?" He showed Sakura how little he could move his arms. It would be impossible to use a pair of chopsticks to eat.

Sakura was shocked. "Hurry," said Sasuke. "We don't know when he's going to return."

Holding a bite of rice between her chopsticks, Sakura firmly said, "I'm only going to do this once. Understand?"

"I understand," said Naruto happily. "Ahhhhmmm," he said taking the bite of rice, Sakura looking scared.

A huge cloud of dust suddenly blew up, the wind howling horrendously.

"You three!" yelled Kakashi suddenly appearing.

"Ahhhh!" yelled Naruto trying to escape his bonds.

"Ahhh!" shrieked Sakura defending herself with her flailing arms.

Sasuke struck a fighting pose, reading to fight his sensei.

"You three broke the rules. Are you prepared for the punishment?" He stood from his forward leaning position and rapidly did some hand signs. Dark clouds appeared over head. Thunder cracked and lightning struck. "Any last words?"

"Yeah!" shouted Naruto. "Rinji fed me as well."

"Idiot!" yelled Sakura at Naruto. "She helped us too." She then fell to her knees and covered her head with her arms, shaking out of fear.

"But..." said Naruto, teeth clacking. "But... But... But... You said...! That's why these three..."

"We're a three man team, right?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah!" said Sakura standing up. "We three are one!"

"Yeah!" shouted Naruto. "Yeah! Yeah! That's right!"

"You three are one, eh?" asked Kakashi stepping forward, his hands still in a Hand Seal.

He crouched down and looked at Sakura, fists up, a tied up Naruto, Sasuke, also ready to fight and Rinji who stood behind Sasuke, afraid, but wouldn't let her Onii-san down. "You pass!" he said happily, closing his one visible eye and smiling.

"Huh?" asked Sakura suprised.

"Hu-uh?" asked Naruto.

"You pass," repeated Kakashi.

"Pass?" asked Sakura. "Why?" Maybe this was a cruel trick.

"You three are the first," said Kakashi as the clouds cleared. "People I had previously were block heads who just listened to what I said. 'Ninja's need to think beyond the normal.' In the world of ninjas, those who break the rules are called scum. But those who don't take care of their friends are worse scum."

Sakura laughed slightly and Naruto's eyes welled up with tears of joy. Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled, leaning his head forward.

"And me?" asked Rinji.

Kakashi smiled again. "You are well on your way to becoming a great ninja."

"He's... He's kind of cool," said Naruto through his tears.

"The training ends here," said Kakashi, standing straight, firmly. "Everyone passes! The seventh group will start doing missions starting tomorrow!" Kakashi gave them all a thumbs up.

"Yes, sir," said Sakura happily.

Sasuke stayed the same, but his smile had faded.

"I did it! I'm a ninja, ninja, ninja!" yelled Naruto.

"Let's go home," said Kakashi turning.

Sasuke followed Kakashi and so did Sakura. '"Alright!"' yelled Inner Sakura. Rinji followed smiling. She ran to catch up to Sasuke and caught his hand. He looked down, smiled, half an inch and lookwed forward again.

"I KNEW it was going to end like this!" yelled Naruto. Angerly, "Untie the freaking rope!"

But no one listened.

* * *

_A/N: _Woo hoo! They became ninjas with Rinji's help! Yay! 

**Disclaimer: The same.**

Edit: August 16, 2007


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on Rinji," said Sasuke. "We are going to go and see Hokage-sama."

"Why?" asked Rinji as the two walked along the path. A few minutes ago they had split away from Kakashi and Sakura and were going towrds the Hokage's tower.

"To get something done about you," said Sasuke, letting the little girls hand go, pocketing both hands and walking in front of her.

"Oh," said Rinji, unable to keep a hint of sadness out of her voice.

They neared the tower and Sasuke opened the door, let Rinji in and then walked in himself. Sasuke walked over to a set of spiral stairs and said, "Follow me." He started to walk up the stairs, followed by shaking Rinji. She clung to the railing with both arms and barely inches up.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke finally asked. "Can't you move faster then a snail?"

"I-I'm scared," stuttered Rinji.

"Of what? There's nothing to be afraid of," said Sasuke. Rinji was starting to get annoying.

"Being high up," said Rinji, looking down. She didn't want to disappoint or make Sasuke mad. "I'm sorry."

Mentally, Sasuke sighed and glared. Physically, he only nodded and bent down so his back was to Rinji. "Get on," said Sasuke. "Sooner we see the Hokage, the sooner I get rid of you."

Rinji smiled and quickly grabbed Sasuke around his neck. Sasuke grabbed her legs and stood up so she was hld securely. "Quit choking me. Hands of shoulders," he said stiffly as Rinji quickly complied.

"Thank you Onii-san," said Rinji as Sasuke began to walk up the stairs, sighing.

Once they reached the top,Sasuke crouched down and said, "Get off." Rinji hopped off and grabbed Sasuke's hand as he knocked on the door with the other.

"Come in," said the old voice of the Hokage.

Sasuke opened the door and walked in, pulling Rinji along. He then closed the door, turned around and bowed.

"Name?" asked the Hokage without even looking up from the papers he was sorting through, puffing on his pipe.

"Rinji and Sasuke Uchiha," said Sasuke without thinking. He then realized his mistake. He should of said, "Sasuke Uchiha and Rinji." He would only look stupider if he corrected himself.

The Hokage looked up and eyes the two. "If I remember correctly, there are only two Uchiha's left and both are male. Also, I do believe the elder left the village," said the Hokage.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama," said Sasuke. "Rinji is not a Uchiha. I found her on my door step this morning."

The Hokage nodded solemnly, puffed his pipe and asked, "And what brings you to see me?"

"Well, she isn't mine and I don't know who her parents are and she hasn't told me anything of them and I can't very well keep her so I was wondering if you could do something about her," said Sasuke.

"I can have a notice put out but in the meantime, where do you expect her to stay?"

"Not with me," said Sasuke. "I have missions and training to do."

"Well then I suppose she'll be on the street, sleeping in door ways and on door steps once more," said the Hokage, puffing his pipe and sorting through the papers again.

Sasuke gave a hushed sigh and an inward groan. "Why can't I stay with Onii-san?" asked Rinji rather suddenly. Then, as an after thought and remembering how Sasuke had addressed the man said, "Hokage-sama."

The Hokage looked up and said, "Your 'older brother' apparently has better things to do then watch you." He put stress on 'older brother.'

Sasuke, looking defeated said, "Alright. She can stay with me. Just don't expect much," the last part was directed right towrds Rinji. He had even turned and looked down at her. She was still holding his hand. The seven year old nodded.

"Well if that's settled," said the Hokage. "You may leave."

"Thank you," said Sasuke bowing. "Hokage-sama." Rinji nodded and also bowed. Sasuke turned and walked out of the room, closely followed by Rinji.

Once the door was closed, the Hokage thought, 'I wonder who that girl belongs to. Who are her parents?'

On the otherside of the door, Sasuke said, "I suppose I'll have to cary you down as well?"

Rinji nodded. "Please?"

"Alright," said Sasuke crouching down and letting Rinji get on his back. Once she was on, he stood up and set off down the stairs and for home.

**----------------------------------**

"This is Sasuke, arrived at point B."

"This is Sakura, arrived at point C."

"This is Naruto, arrived at point A."

"Your slow, Naruto," said the one who had arrived at point B.

"Okay, seventh unit," said Kakashi. "The target has moved!" A dark shape with yellow eyes hooped through the forest trees. "After it."

Sasuke peered out from behind a tree that was behind a bush that had just stopped rustling. Sakura from a tree a few feet forward and Naruto from a branch in the same tree as Sakura.

"Okay," said Naruto through the mic. to the others on his team. "He's there."

Naruto ran to one tree, Sakura one farther back. Sasuke to one in front of the other two.

"What's the distance to the target?" asked Kakashi through his mic. He had one hand pressed against his ear, the other holding the mic. Rinji sat on the ground next to them, listening through her own mic. headset.

"Five meters," said Naruto, looking at something over his shoulder from where he leaned against a tree. "I'm ready to go."

"I am, too," said Sasuke.

"Good luck Onii-san," whispered Rinji, not wanting to disturb him or the others.

"Me too," said Sakura.

"Okay," said Kakashi. "Go!"

All thre dashed off from their spots towrds the 'target.' Naruto grabbed the brown cat around the middle and hugged it to his chest. "I got you!" he yelled.

"Does it have a ribbon on its right ear? Is it our target, Tora?" asked Kakashi. Sasuke looked bored, Sakura was smiling happily as she watched Naruto struggle to keep a hold on the cat.

"It's the target, for sure," said Sasuke to Kakashi.

"Okay," said Kakashi standing up along with Rinji. "'Operation: Capture Tora the Lost Pet,' complete."

"Isn't there a more exciting mission we can work on?!" yelled Naruto to Kakashi through the mic, casuing squeakage and Kakashi to nearly fall over. Rinji cringed from the loudness.

**----------------------------------**

"Ooh. My cute Tora-chan," a women said, squeezing a cat to her fat face. She was chubby and wore gaudy jewelery and make up. "I was so worried about you!"

"That cat's getting what he deserves," said Naruto laughing a bit.

"No wonder he ran away..." said Sakura.

"Poor Tora-chan," murmered Rinji, looking sorry for the cat.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood in front of Kakashi who had his hands in his pockets. Rinji stood behind Sasuke and peered out between Sasuke and Naruto.

**----------------------------------**

"Now then," the the Hokage. "Kakashi's seventh unit's next mission is..." He was looking at a piece of paper. "Babysitting Yojyu-sama's boy. Grocery shopping at the neighboring town. Helping dig up potatoes at..."

"No!" Naruto yelled, interupting rudely. "No thank's to all of those," said Naruto, making an 'X' with his arms. I want to do more exciting missions! Choose something else!"

'There's some truth to that,' thought Sasuke.

'What a troublesome guy,' though Sakura, looking angry.

'I knew he was going to do this soon,' thought Kakashi.

'How rude,' thought Rinji, who stood near Sasuke of course. Deep down inside, she was afraid of leaving him. Afraid for herself that is.

"Idiot!" shouted Iruka who was sitting next to the Hokage, standing up and leaning on the table. "Your still a novice ninja! Everyone needs to start with the easy missions to gain experiance!"

"But, but...!" yelled Naruto right back. "We've only been doing dumb missions lately."

"Cut it out," said Kakashi after hitting Naruto on the head, causing him to fall on it, feet in the air.

'Serves him right,' thought Rinji.

"Naruto!" said the Hokage. Naruto sat up, cross legged and rubbed his head. "It looks like I need to explain to you what missions are." Naruto opened his eyes, ready to listen. "Listen, alot of clients come to this village every day. They request things from babysitting to assassinations." He lowered his pipe from his mouth, and placed the hand, still holding the pipe on the table in front of him where papers, brushes, ink and lists of A, B, C, and D rank missions were.

"On the request list, a variety of requests are listed," the Hokage continued to explain to Naruto. "And they are seperated into ranks, A, B, C and D according to difficulty. In this village, we seperate the people into Jounins, Chuunins and Genins according to their abilities. We higher officials assign the missions to ninja with the appropriate abilities. And if we complete the missions, we revieve a fee from the client."

Farther down the table, Tora-chan's owner handed money to one of the people sitting there.

"You have all become Genins just revently so D ranked missions are best for you," said the Hokage, point with his pipe and holding up the scroll with D ranked missions on it. "Hmmm...?"

Naruto was sitting cross legged on the floor, turned away from the Hokage, some what hunched over and talking about Ramen. "I had tonkotsu ramen yesterday so I'll have miso ramen today."

"Naruto-san, your an idiot," murmered Rinji.

"Listen!" yelled the Hokage.

"I am sorry," said Kakashi, rubbing the back of his head.

"You always lecture me like that, pops," said Naruto turning around. "But I'm not the kid who pulled pranks anymore!" Naruto 'huffed' and turned around, still sitting and crossed his arms, acting like a spoiled two year old.

"Naruto-san," said Rinji aloud. "That's rude."

"But... But..." whined Naruto. "They always treat me like a kid!"

"You should still be nice," said Rinji. "Or at least pretend."

'I guess I'm going to get scolded later,' thought Kakashi, rubbing his head.

Iruka laughed a bit and smiled. The Hokage the same, except he puffed on his pipe. 'He was only able to express himself through pranks, but,' thought the Hokage. "Okay," the Hokage said. "I understand."

'What?' though Rinji, amazed. So far, in her days with Sasuke, whining did not work. Especially when it came to training.

_"But that's so much!" cried out a sitting Rinji from where she sat on the ground outside of Sasuke's house. He stood in front of her and had just finished rattling off the start of Rinji's training. The previous night, while they were eating, Rinji had broken the silence and said, "I want to be a ninja."_

_"Well you want to be a ninja," said Sasuke. "But you'll never get anywhere until you get this training done so you might as well start now and oh," he said, reaching into a pouch on his waist. He oulled out a scroll and threw it at Rinji's side. "Read and memorise it."_

_Rinji's jaw dropped. "No fair!" she whined._

_"And, no dinner until your finished," said Sasuke. "With the pysical part that is." She had wanted this and he wasn't letting her back out now._

Sasuke looked shocked as well, as did Sakura.

"If you insist... I will allow you to take on a C ranked mission," said the Hokage, his chin leaning on his folded hands. "It's to escort a certain person."

Naruto turned his head and looked over his shoulder, smiling, obviosuly delighted. "Really?" he asked in delight. "Who? Who? The feudal lord? Or a princess?"

"Don't get so hasty," said the Hokage. "I'll introduce him now. Can you please come in now?"

The five of them, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Rinji, turned and looked over there shoulders.

The man opened the door. "What? They're all kids!" said the man. He held a bottle in his hand which he promptly took a swig from, some of the liquid dribbling from his mouth.

He leaned of the doorway. "Hey, is the smallest one there, with a 'head protector, the one with an idiotic face, really a ninja?"

Rinji almost breathed a sigh of relief. After all, she was not an idiot. She had memorised that scroll of Sasuke's... Even if she didn't understand it and had to look up a ton of words.

Naruto, hands on his hips laughed. "Who's the smallest one with an idiotic face?" It was clear that only Rinji was smaller then him and she did not have a Konoha forehead protector on her person. Naruto looked from side to side. Suddenly Naruto stopped laughing and Sasuke and Sakura moved nearer, making it clear that Naruto was the shorest of them three. "I'm going to kill you," Naruto yelled as he realized this, trying to run at the man who had made this comment, only held back by Kakashi grabbing the back of his collar.

"Don't kill the man your supposed to escort, idiot," said Kakashi.

After taking another swig, the man said, "I am the bridge building expert, Tazuna. Once I have returned to my country, I will have all of you protect my life with yours while I finish the bridge."

Rinji raised a hand. 'Eh?' thought the birdge builder. 'She can't be a ninja! How'd I miss her before?' "I'm not a ninja. This is not my mission. Your statement is wrong. I will not protect your life with mine," she stated simply. It was apparent that Sasuke was rubbing off on her.

Tazuna shrugged. "Fine," he said. "The others can then."

"You don't expect to go with me, do you?" Sasuke said.

"I'm going," said Rinji, turning to look at Sasuke. "I couldn't leave you Onii-san. After all, I can't cook yet." She smiled and gave a thumbs up. "And yes, I know; Stay out of the way."

Sasuke didn't say anything or even show he heard. It was often like that between the two. Sasuke saying something to Rinji, her responding and him saying nothing.

**----------------------------------**

The gates to Konoha were open and six figures were walking out. Kakashi and his studnents were accompaning Tazuna to his country. The sixth figure was Rinji who was going along because she couldn't stay alone in Konoha.

After walking for a short distacne, Naruto turned around and stuck his arms up in the air, happily. "All right!" he cheered. "Let's go!"

"What are you all excited for?" asked Sakura who had her arms crossed and didn't look happy at all.

"Because I've never gone outside the village before," he said, hand over his eyes and looking around and around, squatting down.

"Hey, will a kid like this really be capable of this mission?" asked Tazuna pointing at Naruto. "I've seen better from that little girl."

Naruto froze, and Kakashi laughed. "I, a Jounin, will be accompanying you. There's no need to worry."

'This geezer is the worst client ever,' thought Naruto crossing his arms. 'I need to say something.'

"Hey geezer!" said Naruto, whirling around and pointing a finger at Tazuna. "Don't underestimate ninja's! I'm a great ninja! I'm the elite ninja who will receive the title of Hokage one day. The name is Naruto Uzumaki," said Naruto. "Remember it!"

"Hokage is the village's number one ninja, right?" said Tazuna after taking a drink from his bottle. Rinji nodded. "I don't think a guy like you can become one," said Tazuna.

"Shut up!" said Naruto, making a fist in front of his chest. "I'm willing to go through any hardship to become a Hokage!" Naruto retorted. "If I become a Hokage, you'll have to take notice of me."

"I won't kid," said Tazuna. "That is, even if you become a Hokage."

Kakashi, who had been standing beside Naruto, grabbed his back back as Naruto tried to get after Tazuna. "I'm going to kill you!" said the blonde haired boy.

"Stop it, stupid," said Kakashi.

"No! No! Let me at least hit him once!" Naruto complained.

"Oh, Rinji," said Sakura, reaching backwards into her bag. "I bought you some hair ribbons." She pulled them out. There was five, all in different colors. Red, yellow, blue, green and purple.

"Thanks..." said Rinji a bit unsurly as she took them and stuffed them into her own bag. Why was Sakura getting her things?

**----------------------------------**

"Hey, Tazuna-san," said Sakura.

"What is it?" he asked. Tazuna, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke walked in a line next to eachother. Naruto walked in front and Rinji back a few steps bethind and between Sasuke and Sakura.

"You're from the Country of the Wave, right?" she asked.

"What about it?"

"Kakashi-sensei," asked Sakura turning to look at Kakashi. "Are there also ninja in that country?"

"No, there are no ninja in the country of the wave," Kakashi replied to Sakura. "But while the cultures and customs of other countries may be different, other hidden villages and ninja's do exist." Kakashi then went on to explain. "To the many countries that exist on this land the existence of ninja villages is the equivelent of the countries military power. In other words, that is how they are able to maintain the relationship with neighboring countries. But the villages arn't under the control of that country. They are supposedly equal in position."

He took a breath before continuing. "On a small island, like the Country of the Wave, where it is difficult to be influenced by other countries, there is no need for a ninja village. Among the countries that have a ninja village... Since the five countries of Fire, Water, Lightening, Wind and Earth occupy a large mass of land and their powers are immense, they are known as the Five Great Ninja Powers."

"Country of Fire's Hidden Village of Konoha. Country of the Water's Hidden Village of Mist. Country of Lightening's Hidden Village of Cloud. Country of Wind's Hidden Village of Sand. Country of Earth's Hidden Village of Rock. Only the leader of reach village is aloud to carry the name 'Kage.'" He paused. "Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, otherwise known as the Five Kage's are the ninja that reign over tens of thousands of ninjas that exist in the countries throughout the world."

"Wow," said Sakura, smiling, arms in their classic position, in front of her and up. "So Hokage-sama must be a great man!" Inner Sakura thought differently though. '"Is that old geezer really a great man as he says he is. Sounds fishy..."'

'No so great. Can't even find a temorary home for a little kid,' Sasuke scowled to himself.

'It must be a lie, yes, a lie,' Naruto thought.

'Hokage-sama is nice. He let me stay with Onii-san!' thought Rinji, skipping a bit.

"Hey," said Kakashi. "You all just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?"

"No, no," said Sakura and Naruto, shaking their head vigoursly from where they stood in front of Tazuna and Kakashi. Sasuke made no movement from where he stood next to Sakura, Naruto in front. Rinji stood next to Sasuke.

"Don't worry," said Kakashi placing a hand on Sakura's head. "We won't have any ninja battles in a C ranked mission."

"Then there's no worry about meeting foreign ninja," said Sakura.

"Of course," replied Kakashi. Sasuke turned around as Kakashi laughed. A bird cawed.

* * *

_A/N: _Sorry for the chapter taking so long. I went on vacation for three days so I had no time to write then. I'm tweaking Rinji's personality from an innocent little girl to someone more like Sasuke, but she will retain being able to act like a little girl. I just figure that Rinji would probably start acting more like Sasuke from living with him and being around him for this long. I'm still trying to determine Rinji's relationship with other charecters.

**Disclaimer: Same again except episode 6.**

Edit: August 16, 2007


	6. Chapter 6

A simple bride crossed a small river. Actually, it really was only a stream but a bridge was there, a few feet above the water. It was a simple wooden bridge, planks simply attached together going across, so hand rails or curve or anything. Just the planks.

And a group of people walked acorss. A blonde led the way. A foot or two back a black haired boy followed, a girl with matching hair standing beside him, nearly falling off the bridge herself. She clung to the black haired boy. The boy scowled. Practicaly right behind him, a pink haired girl stood. The blonde, the pink and the black hair were all twelve, the young girl seven. Behind them stood a young silver haired man and then an older man who wore a hat.

At the moment the thoughts were as follows:

The Blonde: 'Oh, this is so cool being out of the village and on a C ranked mission!'

The Black Haired Boy: 'Hnn. I wish she would stop clinging to me.'

The Black Haired Girl: 'Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down... Onii-san won't let you fall.'

The Pink Haired Girl: Inner Sakura: '"I can't believe Rinji-chan can just cling to Sasuke-kun like that! Why can't I do that? It's so unfair! At least it isn't Ino-Pig..."'

The Silver Haired Man: 'Wasn't expecting a mission like this so soon.'

The Older Man: 'I can't believe a bunch of kids are escorting me.'

There names were Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Rinji, Sakura Haruno, Kakashi Hatake and Tazuna, respectively. The four ninja, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura were taking Tazuna back to his own country and then guarding him until he completed a bridge. Rinji was tagging along. She was being taken care of by Sasuke and couldn't very well stay home alone. She couldn't cook and who knew how long Sasuke would be away.

**---------------------**

The six were walking down a forest path when they past a puddle. Only Kakashi noticed it, glancing over his shoulder at it after passing it. Naruto was still in the lead, though they were walking more in a line across the path now.

After they passed a few yards, a human figure rose from the puddle, a thin line of smoke trailing around which quickly disappeared as it lunged forward, throwing a spiked chain-like thing.

The weapon wrapped around a suprised Kakashi, ebing held by two people now, for another had come from the puddle.

"What?" the three young ninja said, Rinji gasping.

"First one!" the two foreign ninja shouted out, pulling the chain to smash the body. They succeeded. Sakura and Naruto stood in amazement, Rinji gasped, backed up a few steps and tripped over her own feet. Sasuke held an even expression and Tazuna gritted his teeth, mouth opened.

The bloody remain fell from the sky. Sakura backed up a few steps, arms going into a defensive postion in front of her and Naruto yelled out. "Kakashi-sensei!" The two foreign ninja appeared behind a clearly scared Naruto.

"Second one," one of them said.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at them and shuddered with fear as the chain moved, getting ready to attack. Sasuke reacted immeidiatly. He jumped into the air and pulled a Kunai and Shuriken from his leg pouch. He trew the Shuriken at the chain weapon. It struck it's mark as it attached the chain into the tree. Sasuke then threw the Kunai which hit the middle of the Shuriken, keeping the chain locked into the three.

"It won't come out," said the ninja with the black hair through his face mask that covered both nose and mouth.

Sasuke landed on the two mens fat metal arms, one foot on each as they were held out, unable to move a signifigant amount. He was leaning over. "Hnn." he said as he grabbed one of the arms with each hand and kicked backwards with both feet at the heads of the two man... He struck his target. Naruto was in shock.

'Wow...' Naruto thought in awe.

The two foreign ninja broke the chain off their arms and ran around the edge of the group to the back. One went after Naruto, the other Tazuna.

'He's coming,' thought Sakura. 'I have to do it... I have to do it...' "Stay back mister!" she shouted as she stepped in front of Tazuna, bracing herself and gripping her Kunai.

Sasuke turned his head as he realized what was happening. He jumped in front of Sakura, arms out stretched. Pure determination on his face as the claw of the mans metal arms came towrds him. Kakashi appeared and grabbed the man around the neck. He already held the other man.

Naruto, who was laying with his face to the ground opened his blue eyes and pushed himself up with arms, confused.

"Hey," said Kakashi as Sakura let her guard down.

'Kakashi-sensei,' thought Sakura, happily. 'He's alive!'

Sasuke appeared aggravated and slightly unhappy. 'What a show-off,' he thought. Rinji walked over to him and took his hand murmering. "It's okay. You did really good!" Sasuke ignored her.

'Then... that was...' thought Naruto looking over at an area where small logs were scattered. "Kakashi-senei used the replacement technique."

"Naruto," said Kakashi, looking over his shoulder. "Sorry for not helping you out right away. I got you hurt. I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move." He turned and started walking.

Tazuna breathed a sigh of relief. 'I'm saved...' he thought.

"Anyway, Sasuke," said Kakashi stopping where Sasuke and Sakura stood. "Good job. Sakura, you too."

Naruto who was standing up, looked mortified. 'I... couldn't do anything. At least Rinji-chan got out of the way. And Sasuke was able to in his first real battle...' Sasuke was looking bored as he looked up slightly, completely ignoring Rinji who stood beside him, clinging to his arm. 'He wasn't afraid at all?' Naruto's thoughts continued. 'Are you saying he helped me with that calm face without soiling his clothes?'

"Hey..." said Sasuke turning to look at Naruto. "Are you okay? Mr. Scaredy Cay."

'Onii-san!' thought Rinji. 'How right you are. At least I got out of the way...'

"Sasuke!" shouted out Naruto as his anger and contempt built.

"Naruto!" yelled Kakashi as Naruot was just about to start to run at Sasuke. "There's poison on these guys' nails. We need to take out the poison right away."

"What?" gasped Naruto, looking shocked.

As Kakashi continued, Naruto looked at his cut hand. "We have to open up your wound and leech out the poisoned blood. Don't move that much, or the poison will spread throughout your body. By the way Tazuna-san," said Kakashi without turning to look at the man behind him.

"W-what is it?" asked Tazuna, nervously.

"I need to talk to you," said Kakashi, turning his head a bit.

**---------------------**

"These guys are Chuunin-class ninja from the the Hidden Village of the Mist," said Kakashi. The two foreign ninja had been tied to a tree and they stood in a semi-circle around them. "They are ninja's known to keep fighting, no matter the cost."

"How were you able to detect our action?" one of them asked. Both were now awake.

"It hasn't rained for the past few days, and it's sunny today, so a puddle of water shouldn't exist," replied Kakashi.

"Why did you let the kids fight when you knew that?" asked Tazuna who stood on Kakashi's right.

"If I was up to it, I could have killed these two in the blink of an eye," said Kakashi.

'Kakashi-san really likes answering questions,' thought Rinji as a bunch of chibi students, including Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, appeared in her mind. They were all asking questions and Kakashi was answering them with long complicatied explinations. It should be mention Naruto had a black eye from their previous encounter.

"But..." said Kakashi. "I needed to know who the target for these two was."

"What do you mean?" asked Tazuna.

"In other words, were you being targeted?" asked Kakashi, completly turning to face Tazuna. "Or somebody from our ninja group? Or maybe Rinji? Though I don't see why... We have not heard anything about you being targeted by ninja. Your request was to be protectes from armed groups, like gangs and robbers. This is a mission that is above B rank. Our job was to support the guard you until the completion of the bridge. If ninja were our enemy, this would be an expensive B rank mission. It looks like you have your reasons, but it only troubles us if you lie in your request details. This wasn't part of the mission."

"This mission is out of our leauge," said an exasperated Sakura. "Let's quit," she suggested plainly. "We need anesthesia to take out the poisoned blood in Naruto, too. We need to go back to our village and see a doctor! Rinji-chan could get hurt." Honestly, she could care less if Rinji got hurt. She just didn't want to fight.

Naruto, who had been looking at his hand, turned and faced Kakashi.

"This sure is a burden," said Kakashi lazily. "Let's go back to the village and cure Naruto."

An angry look Naruto wielded a Kunai, pointing it at an angle to the sky. He then turned it around and plunged it into the back of his poisoned hand, his face contorted with pain.

They all gasped and looked shocked, even Sasuke as Naruto preformed this task. Blood flew. He stepped and turned to look away from the others. "Why am I so different... Why am I always..." he said. "Damn it!"

Sakura ran forward a few steps and exclaimed. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"I should be stronger... I've did lots of missions and practiced techniques every day..." he said. Blood dripped to the ground. "I'm never going to do something that will require someone to help me. I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things. I'm not going to loose to Sasuke. I vow that to this pain in my left hand. I'm going to protect that old man with this Kunai!"

He turned around, laughing a low laugh, the Kunai still stuck in his raised hand. "The mission is still on."

"Naruto," said Kakashi simply. "It;s nice that you took out the poisoned blood so spiritedly... But you'll die from loss of blood if you loose anymore."

Naruto stood there, his hand up raised in front of him, the Kunai removed, bloody... and his face turned purple.

"It's not good if you don't stop it right away. Seriously," said Kakashi crouching by Naruto and smiling. At this Naruot started to freak out and wave his arms in every which direction as he ran up and down.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" he yelled. "I can't die like this!"

"Show me your hand," said Kakashi simply.

"No! Help me!" demanded Naruto.

"Naruto, you have a self-abusing personality," stated Sakura. "That's called masochism, you know."

"Just give your hand to Kakashi-san," said Rinji.

Kakashi held Naruto's hand as Naruto, thank gosh, held still. 'His wound is already starting to heal,' thought Kakashi.

"Um, um..." said Naruto. "Am I... okay? You have a serious look on your face." Naruto was freaking out.

Kakashi started to wrap Naruto's hand with a dove white bandage. "You should be okay," he said. 'It must be the Nine-tailed Fox's power...'

* * *

_A/N: _Fourth of July celebrations with friends is my excuse this time. Oh, and I got speed braces. My teeth hurt. Any who, I have lots of plans for Rinji in the future. I mean as far as Part II of Naruto I have things. I've also came up with her Jutsu(s) and such. Don't worry, she isn't going to have some super awesome indestructable(sp) blood line trait or have a demon inside her or be some long lost princess or a kage's daughter or granddaughter. I have plans. The 4th of July is actually how I got them and no... it has nothing to do with fireworks.

Oh and Sakura and Rinji's relationship has been kind of planned. Maybe I shouldn't say this... but... (WARNING: SPOILER) Sakura will start of hating Rinji and then grow to like her. In Part II Sakura will hate Rinji again for a while. (WARNING: SPOILER ENDS HERE!)


	7. Chapter 7

They sat in a boat, all of them, crossing the water. The air was thick with fog and mist. Another was them thought. He paddled the boat, rather then use the engine.

"The mist is so thick. I can't see what's ahead," commented Sakura softly from where she sat. Sasuke was against the side of the boat near her, Rinji, amazingly wasn't next to him, but rather in the prow of the boat. Then again... that really wasn't too far away. The odd thing though, was she sleeping in Naruto's lap. Why? She had fallen in the water a while ago and he had been the one to jump in and get her. She held a kind of respect for him now. Not that she still didn't think he was an idiot.

Naruto remembered the event clearly.

_"Ah!" yelled Rinji as she slipped from the dock and hit the water with a crash. "Help!" she said her head bodding above the water a couple of times._

_While the others stood in shock, Sasuke simply trying to figure out if this was for attention and Sakura only pretending to care._

_"Shouldn't you do something?" asked Tazuna turning to Kakashi as Naruto jumped into the water, fulling clothes and started swimming towrds a Rinji who had just disappeared under the water._

_"No," said Kakashi. "Naruto is."_

_The swimming Naruto went under the water, swimming down. Finally, he grabbed Rinji by the leg and pulled her up. Then he grabbed her arm and started pulling her towrds the dock ladder where everyone was. Kakashi reached down and grabbed a chattering Rinji and helped her up, a chattering Naruto behind._

_Some women from the village by the dock had seen the comotion and brung blankets for them to dry off with._

Kakashi and Tazuna were in the back, sitting at the man who rowed standing up. "We should be able to see the bridge soon," said the rower. "If we move along the side of the bridge, we'll be at the Country of the Wave."

Naruto grinned as the bridge came into view through the fog. The bridge was like one of Kakashi's big dogs compared to Tora the cat. Above them on the bridge were cranes and signs, pieces of metal.

"It's huge!" exclaimed Naruto, causing Rinji to turn in her sleep. "Rinji-chan, look!" He shook Rinji and she woke with a muffled shriek. Her mouth was to her arm. She glanced up to the bridge and said, quite loudly, "Wow! You're right!"

"Hey, be quiet, you two," said the rower sternly. "We're using this boat and hiding in the mist. That's why I'm rowing instead of using the engine. In other words, if we are caught, we'll be in trouble."

"Sorry," whispered Rinji. Naruto was covering his mouth, good hand over bandaged. Sakura looked shocked, evidently at the fact that they could get in trouble.

"Tazuna-san," said Kakashi. "Before the boat gets to the pier, there's something I need to ask you. The identity of the ones who are after you and the reason they are after you. Or we can call this mission off when you get ashore, Tazuna-san."

They call (except the rower) looked at Tazuna expectantly. Rinji stretched with a muffled yawn. Finaly, Tazuna said, "It looks like I have to tell you the real story."

'Shouldn't it have been told in the first place?' thought Rinji.

"I mean, I would like for you to hear my story," the bridge builder continued. "As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description. An extremly terrible man is after my life."

"An extremly terrible man?" questioned Kakashi.

"Yes," said Tazuna.

"Who is it?"

"You should have all at least heard his name... Marine transporter billionaire, Gatou."

"Gatou?" asked a shocked Kakashi. "The one from the Gatou Company? He's one of the richest men in this world."

"Who's that? What?" asked Naruto. Rinji nodded in agreement. Who was Gatou?

"Yes," said Tazuna. "He is the president of a marine transportation company on the outside... But underground, he uses gangs and ninjas to smuggle drugs and contraband goods. He also does nasty jobs, like takeovers of other companies and countries.

"A year ago, he set his sights on the Country of the Wave. He entered this country using violence and wealth as his shield, and he quickly took over the island's sea traffic and transportation. On an island, like the Country of the Wave, controlling the sea means ruling over the wealth, politics and people of that island. And the one thing Gatou is afraid of... Is the completion of the bridge that has been under construction for quite some time."

"I see," said Sakura. "So you, as the one building the bridge, became an obstacle to him."

"Then those ninja's were sent by Gatou," said Sasuke, turning to look at a Rinji who was nodding, a confused looking Naruto and a ponderous Sakura. Naruto put a finger to his head.

"But I don't understand. He's a dangerous man that uses ninja's. Why did you hide that fact when you came to us?" questioned Kakashi.

"The Country of the Wave is a really poor country. Even the feudal lord does not have much money," said Tazuna. He paused and looked down at the bottom of the boat. "And we do not have much either. We don't have the money to request for an expensive B rank or above mission. If you quit your mission after I land, I'll be killed for sure... While you go home.

"But there's no need to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight year old grandson will cry and cry and cry some more."

"What?" said Sakura, Naruto and Rinji, feeling guilty.

"And my daughter will just hold a grudge against Konoha Ninja and live a lonely life," said Tazuna, trying to make them feel guilty. "But it's not your fault."

Kakashi touched his forehead protector with one finger. "I guess it can't be helped," he said turning and throwing his arms to his sides in exasperation. "We will continue escorting you."

That's good to hear," said the bridge builder. 'I won,' thought Tazuna, putting two fingers up and looking over his shoulder.

"We're almost there," said the young man rowing. They were nearing a stone bridge that had arches under neath that one could go through if one were on a boat. "Tazuna, it looks like we havn't been noticed yet."

"Thanks," said Tazuna to the rower.

The tunnel they went through had red lights on the arched ceiling. Rinji crawled around Naruto and as far to the front of the boat as she could go, trying to see what was ahead, eager and excited.

After being temporarily blinded, you could see houses on stilts and a tree in the water, growing, it's roots exposed. It was luch and green. More trees and more houses followed.

"Ehhhh," said Naruto, grinning open mouthed, excited as Rinji. The only weird thing was, the place was deserted. The boat pulled up to a corner of a house where planking was all around. The exited the boat, Rinji clinging to Naruto, not wanting to fall in.

'Maybe she'll stop following me,' thought Sasuke.

As soon as Rinji was on the dock though, she let go and walked over to Sasuke.

"This is as far as I go," said the rower. "Later."

"Sure, thanks alot," said Tazuna.

"Be careful." The rower then started the motor and zoomed off.

"All right," said Tazuna turning around. "Take me home safely."

"Okay," said Kakashi. As they walked, he thought, 'If they are to attack, they will send Jounin level ninja instead of Chuunin level ones. Oh well..." He sighed heavily.

Once off the dog, they followed a dirt path through a wooded area. Naruto was walking quickly in the ront, but Sasuke picked up the pace, trying to leave Rinji behind and started to go in front of a suprised Naruto.

'I'm not going to let this guy take the good parts anymore,' thought Naruto fiercely. Naruto ran a few steps in front of Sasuke, stopped and looked around quickly, hand over his eyes. The other stopped. He pulled out a Kunai. "There!" he yelled, throwing it at a bush. Everyone but Sasuke, looked shocked. For a few heart pounding seconds nothing happened.

Naruto stood and lazily said, "Oh, it was just a mouse," much to Sakura's anger.

"Stop showing off!" Sakura yelled, pointing a a finger at them. "There was nothing there!"

Tazuna looked like he would have a heart attack as Kakashi said, "Please, Naruto, don't use your Kunai so abusively. It's dangerous in the first place."

"Hey, you dwarf!" yelled Tazuna, in anger. "Don't scare us!"

"Naruto!" yelled Rinji. "Stop it!"

"I see someone hiding over there," said Naruto. "No, is he over there?" He said it real dramatic like, as if something really was wrong and move about, a bit fake frantic. "There!" he yelled, turning around and throwing another Kunai at a bush.

"I told you to stop!" said Sakura coming up and hitting Naruto on the head with her fist. Naruto groaned slightly as he held his head.

"But I really did sense someone," whined Naruto turning to look at Sakura.

"Liar! Cut it out." argued Sakura.

Kaksahi waded into a bush and saw a rabbit leaning on it's back against a tree, a Kunai above it's head, the poor white rabbit nearly scared to death.

"Naruto!" said Sakura. "Look what you've done!" She had walked up and seen the poor rabbit.

"Rabbit?" said Naruto putting out his hands in confusement. He ran forward and threw the bush to the rabbit. He kneeled down and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean it." He picked up the rabbit and hugged it. "Sorry, rabbit."

"It was just a rabbit," said Sasuke plainly as Rinji kneeled next to Naruto and gently patted the rabbit.

'That's a snow rabbit,' thought Kakashi. 'But what's with the color of it's fur? They only hate white fur durning the winter, when the days are short. That means it is a rabbit that was raised inside a place where the sun isn't a factor for the replacement technique.' Kakashi's one visible eye was clearly searching, moving from side to side. 'So one has appeared immeidiatly,' thought Kakashi, looking over his shoulder and up into a tree.

"Sorry..." said Naruto, still coddling the rabbit.

"Everyone duck!" yelled Kakashi as a sword, glimmering in the days sun, hurled towrds them.

Rinji threw herself to the ground and covered her head with her arms. The rest of them ducked in the nick of time, the swords had been hurling right towrds Tazuna. The rabbit jumped out of Naruto's arms as he ducked. The sword slammed itnoa tree and a man jumped on top of it, on the handle. He looked over his shoulder at Kakashi.

'He's...' thought Kakashi.

'Someone's here, here, here,' thought Naruto. He glanced over his shoulder. 'This time, I'll handle the situation.'

"Go hide in the bushes," whispered Sasuke to Rinji. "Stay out of the way."

"No," Rinji whispered right back. She pulled her bag off her shoulder and pulled a Kunai out.

"Where did you get that?" demanded Sasuke turning and looking at her.

"Home," said Rinji simply, putting her bag back on as Sasuke, rolling his eyes turned back to face the new enemy.

"Oh, my, my, you are Momochi Zabuza, the exiled Ninja of the Hidden Village of the Mist.

'Exiled ninja?' thought Naruto, mouth oepn and wide. 'Who cares, I need to... On your mark... Go!' Naruto ran forward but was quickly stopped by Kakashi's hand held in front of him.

"You're in the way," Kakashi said. "Stay back, everyone."

"Why?!" demanded Naruto.

"He's way different from the guys we met before."

* * *

_A/N: _Ta-da! Another chapter and hopefully some more Rinji for you guys. Also, I do have Rinji's history planned out and you'll see some of it in the next few chapters. If you guys could do me a favor, please tell me if you think Rinji is a Mary-Sue or in danger of becoming one. 


	8. Chapter 8

"If he's our enemy," said Kakashi, lifting his hands to his forehead protector. Naruto and Sakura looked on in amazement. Rinji gaped from where she stood with the Kunai. His hand was ready to bull the protector up. "I can't win like this."

"I'm guessing you are Kakashi, the Sharingan user," said Zabuza from where he stood on his sword handle that was stuck high in a tree.

Sasuke's eyes winded and his features tensed as he heard this.

"I'm sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the geezer. Leaves blew, Kakashi still ready to remove the band.

'What? Sharingan?' thought Naruto. 'What's that?'

'What? What is he saying?' thought Sakura, not understanding. 'He's strong?'

'Sharingan...' thought Rinji. She nodded her head once. 'Must be powerful if he knowns of Kakashi-san.'

'Sharingan...' thought Zabuza.

"Everyone, form the swastika formation," said Kakashi. His tone said not to question. "Protect Tazuna-san. Don't join the battle. To not interfere with the battle is team work." He started to pull the protector up. Naruto gasped as this so happened. The protector uncovered Kakashi's normaly hidden eye. The eye was closed a verticle line went from the silver eyebrow, across the eye lid and disappeared under the mask that covered this sensei's mouth.

The eye opened. It was red with three comma marks at different angles around the pupil. "Fight me..." said Kakashi.

'What's that eye?' thought Naruto, shaking.

"I'm honored I can see the Sharingan I have heard about," said Zabuza, still looking over his shoulder. He turned around.

"You guys have been saying Sharingan," said Naruto. "But what is it?"

"Sharingan..." said Sasuke, explaining. "The eye creates it and it is the power that the pupil generates." He paused. "Ones who use Doujutsu are said to have eye powers that see through all Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and cancel their effects. Sharingan is one of the various types of eyes that those doujutsu users possess. But that's not the only ability the Sharingan possesses."

'What...?' thought Naruto. Rinji appeared physically happy at this explaination. She had been wondering the same thing as Naruto.

"Correct," said Zabuza. "That isn't it. The scary part is that Sharingan can understand how an opponents technique works and copy it."

Fog filled the area, visibility was reduced and the mist covered the water.

"When I was in the Hidden Village of the Mist's assaination squad your information was listed in the bingo book I carried for your capture. It also noted this... Then man who coppied more then one thousand techniques, Kakashi the Copy Nin."

'What?' thought Sakura. 'Kakashi was that great of a ninja?' She stood next to Tazuna.

"Wow!" exclaimed Naruto, practically like a girl at a mall surrounded by cute clothes, that type of girl that is.

'I don't understand,' thought Sasuke. 'Sharingan is a special trait that only appears in a limited amount of people in the Uchiha clan. Could he be...?!' Sasuke looked at his sensei. His sensei that was ready to battle.

"Let's cut the chit-chat here," said Zabuza. He was now crouched down on his sword. "I have to kill that geezer right away."

Zabuza gasped as Sakura, Rinji, Sasuke and Naruto rushed to defend him.Sasuke stood in front, Kunai at the ready, Sakura to the right, Naruto the left. Their Kunai's were ready as well. Rinji stood behind Tazuna, still helping yet out of the way. She mimicked the others, except instead of having her back to him she looked forward, peering around Tazuna to see what happened. Rinji was simply a child, playacting a ninja.

"But Kakashi," said Tazuna. "It seems I have to defeat you first." He rose. Zabuza pulled his sword ouy of the tree using his feet. The water of the nearby pond rippled, Zabua gone.

"He's there!" said Naruto, looking over his shoulder.

"And he's on top of the water?" questioned Sakura, disbelieving.

And there Zabuza stood. Atop the water, sword on his back both hands in half-Tiger position, his left arm poiting straight up with it.

'He's embedding a lot of chakra into the water,' thought Kakashi as he watched.

"Mist Concealment," Zabuza said, his self disappearing as mist surrounded them. A single leaf fell on the water.

"He disappeared!" stated Captain Obvious Naruto.

Kakashi started walking, but Sakura called out. "Sensei!"

"He'll try to eliminate me first, but..." said Kakashi.

"What is he?" asked Sakura, apparently worried.

"Momochi Zabuza. He was in the Hidden Village of the Mist's ANBU, and was know for his "silent killing" techniques."

"Silent...?" questioned Naruto.

"Just as the name implies, it's a killing technique that's executed in the blink of an eye and carried out in absoloute silence." And after a pause... "It's possible you'll be dead before you realize it. And I cannot use my Sharingan to it's fullest potential. So, don't let your guard down." He paused. Sakura and Naruto were shocked. "But if you fail, you're only going to die."

"You're so carefree!" Sakura accused.

'I can be killed?' Rinji thought in disbelief, not comprehending the idea at all. She started to shake and her teeth began to clatter with a fear she had never felt before. As her palms began to sweat, the Kunai slipped from her hand. It landed on the ground with only a soft thump.

"Don't fight, girl," said Sasuke, apparently to Rinji. "You'll get in the way. Go hide in the forest. Stay out of the way."

"N-no," stated Rinji, wiping her hands on her dress and bending down to pick up the Kunai. She would not be told to fight.

"Clearly, your afraid. Fear will only blind you in battle."

"No," she said again. Her pride would be her down fall... today.

Sasuke said no more.

"The mist is getting thicker," said Naruto.

"The Country of the Wave is surrounded by the ocean so, a mist often arrises," said Tazuna calmly.

"Sensei!" said Sakura as the mist grew so thick they could no longer see Kakashi, only a few feet away.

"Eight points," stated Zabuza's voice.

"What is it?" said Sakura.

"The larynx, the spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney and heart," the voice continued. "Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at."

Blue waves wavered off of Kakashi as he did a Hand Seal, blowing the mist away. The three genins, Tazuna and Rinji could see Kakashi once more.

"What an intense thirst for blood...' thought Sasuke, his eyes wide, as if he was filled with fear. 'One breathing motion or one eye movement will be detected and get me killed...' thought Sasuke, convinced. 'That is the atomosphere I feel... If I stay here for an hour, I'll loose my mind. The murderous intent of those two Jounins clashing... The feeling that my life is in someone's hand...' Sasuke was feeling fear. 'No... I would rather kill myself to escape this feeling!' His two hands clutched the Kunai handle, the point facing the ground.

"Sasuke," said Kakashi, causing the said person to raise his head. "Don't worry, I'll protect the four of you with my life."

'Well it's his job to protect me,' thought Tazuna selfishly, once again forgetting Rinji even existed.

"I won't let anyone on my team die," he said. And with that, Rinji was accepted. Accepted as his student, even if she was officially not. He turned his head and smiled at Sasuke.

"I don't know about that," said the voice of Zabuza. He stood between. He seperated Zabuza from Sasuke and Sakura. "This is the end."

Kakashi used his Sharingan. The next thing anyone knew, him and Zabuza were tangled together and Sasuke, Rinji, Naruto, Tazuna and Sakura had been thrown back. A kunai was stabbed into Zabuza's stomache. It dripped water.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto Shouted, pointing as another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. The first Zabuza disappeared as Kakashi gasped, the other one wielded his sword.

"Die!" he yelled, swinging the sword, cutting Kakashi in two across the middle, blood flying. The body and blood turned to water then.

'The water clone technique...' thought Zabuza. 'Did he...' Kakashi had indeed copies the jutsu back when Zabuza first did it.

"Don't move," said Kakashi, holding a Kunai to Zabuza's throat. "This is the end."

* * *

_A/N: _Don't kill me for the bit of, hopefully stuble, charecter bashing. I'm in the best mood. But I have a duty and it has been fullfilled. I need some sleep. Please read and review.

* * *

"Wow!" exclaimed Naruto as he saw his Sensei, holding a Kunai to the throat of their enemy, Zabuza.

Sakura smiled a giggled a bit while Sasuke looked smug. Rinji looked on in awe, how she often did with those better then her. Zabuza... laughed.

"Is this the end?" he questioned. "You don't understand. You cannot defeat me with just your indiscriminate imitations. I can assure you that." He laughed again. "But your pretty good. I see you copied my water clone technique when you said, 'I won't let anyone on my team die.' By making your clone speak as if it was the real one, you diverted my attention to the clone... while the real one used the Mist Concealment Technique to hide and observe my movements."

'Wait...' thought Sakura.

'Why is Rinji-chan...?' thought Naruto.

'Trying to attack that guy?' Sasuke thought.

"Rinji, no!" yelled Kakashi as the young girl ran towrds Zabuza, holding the Kunai with both hands, ready to attack. Her pride was worse then Naruto's.

"Silly girl," said Zabuza. He raised his sword and swung it, broad side at the running girl. It hit her right side and she flew the air a good three yards before falling. Thump, thump, thump. She bounced and then rolled. No movement.

"Rinji-chan!" yelled out Naruto.

"However," Zabuza continued as if nothing had happened. "I'm not that easily defeated." This remark came from another Zabuza who was behind Kakashi.

Kakashi dug his Kunai into the Zabuza in front of him, in anger of Rinji getting hurt. 'Stupid girl...' he thought as the fake Zabuza dissipated into water.

"That one's a fake, too!" exclaimed Naruto, mouth a gape.

Zabuza swung his blade again, this time with the blade side towrds Kakashi. Kakashi ducked as the sword zoomed by. It crashed into the ground and stuck. Zabuza switch hands on the hilt of the huge sword and push himself to kick Kakashi, who was sent flying into the pond.

'Now...' thought Zabuza, turning his attention elsewhere. He yanked his blade out of the ground and went running. 'Caltrops...' he thought, sliding to a stop. "How idiotic," he said, doing a backwards flip, landing on his head in the water.

"Sensei!" yelled Naruto.

'The Kakashi-sensei was kicked... away? Like Rinji-chan?' Her thoughts were pure awe and shock

"His Taijutsu is superb, too," comented Sasuke, trying to plan something out.

Kakashi arose in the water, which was the first thing he noticed. 'What's with this water? It's heavy for some reason.'

"Idiot." Zabuza stood on the water, towering over Kakashi as he did hand signs behind him. "The Hydro-Prison Technique."

"Shoot!" exclaimed Kakashi as he was trapped in a blue orb. 'I thought I could use the water as cover, but it turned out to be a mistake on my part.' Zabuza had one hand in the orb from which ripples radiated, circling the rest of the orb.

"You fell for it," said Zabuza after chuckling, darkly. "This is a special prison from which you can't escape. You give me a hard time when your moving. Now then, Kakashi... I'm going to finish you off later. First, I'm going to get rid of them." He raised his other hand in half a Tiger Seal. "The Water Clone Technique."

'I didn't think he was this strong,' thought Kakashi, shocked at his own dumbness.

As the clone arose from the water, Naruto gasped in fright, hid eyes widening.

"The three of you have forehead protectors on as if you think you're ninja," said Zabuza Clone darkly. "But ninja refers to someone who has gone through numerous life or death situations. That other girl has one to her name now. A good start to becoming a ninja. That is if she lives... In other words, you can call yourself a ninja when you appear in my bingo book. You three arn't ninja."

Zabuza Clone did the same hand seal again and the mist thickened.

'He disappeared again,' thought Naruto. "Shouldn't some one find Rinji-chan?"

"No," said Sasuke plainly. "She did what she did of her own free will. She had no obligation. She must now suffer the consequenses."

"But-" argued Naruto who was quickly cut off my Sakura saying, "I agree with Sasuke-kun." Suddenly, Naruto was sent flying, his forehead protector flying the other direction. He landed on his back and slid on his bag. Zabuza Clone stepped on his forehead protector. "You're just kids," he said.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Everyone!" yelled Kakashi. "Get Tazuna-san and run! You can't win against him! He can't move as long as he has been trapped in this Hydro-Prison. He won't be able to use his Water Clone once you get away from him! Run for now!" Naruto looked horrified at what had happened to him.

'Run? You must be kidding,' thought Sasuke, gritting his teeth. 'When you got caught, that was longet an option. Even if we run, Zabuza will get to us sooner or later since we won't have you and we'll be annihilated. Even if we reform the swastika formation, it's impossible to block his attacks. So, in the end, we don't have much of a choice. In order for us to survive, we have to save you!'

"We have to do it!" Sasuke said aloud. He ran towrds Zabuza and thre various Shuriken as Zabuza placed a hand on the handle of his sword which was strapped across his back. Zabuza blocked all of the Shuriken. Sasuke jumped into the air and held a Kunai, ready to strike. "This is it!" he yelled as he did so.

"Too easy," said Zabuza. He reached out a hand and gripped Sasuke around his neck. Sasuke's gripped at Zabuza's one, choking for air as he tried to get free. Zabuza threw Sasuke across the ground, on his back, above the ground only slightly.

"Sasuke-kun!" shrieked Sakura in pure horror.

"Sasuke got..." said Naruto, just as shocked as Sakura was. Zabuza stood in front of Naruto, who was still on the ground. 'This is a Jounin... A real ninja,' thought Naruto. 'I have to run. At this rate... we'll... we'll get killed for sure!' He swung one arm around and put it on the ground, hard. "Ouch!" he said hanging his head. Fear coursed through his veins. He put his head up and looked at his injured hand, the one he had swung. Naruto sat there, remembering his oath. That oath of pain. He turned and looked at a standing Zabuza Clone.

Naruto looked at his forehead protector which Zabuza was stepping on and remembered the time he had asked Iruka if he could try Iruka's on. He remembered when Iruka had given his forehead protector to Naruto, telling him he had graduated. He remembered when Kakashi had told him, Sakura and Sasuke to quit being ninjas. When Kakashi had told them they passes, when he told the Hokage he wasn't a prank pulling kid anymore. When he had said he would become Hokage. He remembered. Naruto remembered.

'Thats right... I became a ninja,' he thought as he attempted to stand, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna all standing behind him, Zabuza watching his every move. 'And I vowed I wouldn't run anymore!' He clenched his injured hand. 'I won't run anymore!'

He ran foward and Kakashi exlaimed, "Idiot! Stop!"

"Naruto! What are you thinking!?" yelled out Sakura as Naruto ran forward.

"Idiot." That was all Zabuza said. Naruto continued to run. Blood flew and Naruto slid back him team mated and Zabuza, on his back. He rolled and was on his stomache, head down, supported by one arm.

"What were you thinking, charging in like that on you own?!" demanded Sakura. "Even Sasuke-kun is no match against him. Genins like ourselves have no of defeating him no matter what we try!" She stopped suddenly as Naruto forced him self to sit up with his arms.

In his left hand was his forehead protector.

'He went to get his forehead protector?' thought Sakura in wonderment.

* * *

_A/N: _I find it ironic that Naruto vows not to run and then charges off at Zabuza, running.

Any way, reviewers get cookies today!

Edited: 2007-July-14


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto struggled as he attempted to stand up, shaking. "Hey," he said. "The no-brow there... Put this in your bingo book... The man who will become the Hokage of the Hidden Village of Konoha one day..." He staightened out and put his forehead protector back in place. "The Konoha-style ninja... Naruto Uzuamaki!"

'Naruto...' thought Kakashi.

'He looked so unreliable when I first saw him, but...' thought Tazuna, amazed.

"Sasuke, lend me your ear for a second," Naruto said.

"What do you want?" asked Sasuke from where he was, a few paces behind and to the side of Naruto.

"I have a plan."

'He came up with a plan in this situation?' thought Sasuke. "I can't believe you want to work as a team."

'What...? What is this feeling?' a slightly blushing Sakura thought. 'Was Naruto this...?'

"Let's go wild now!" said Naruto.

Zabuza laughed. A cruel and deep laugh. "You seem to be quite confident, but do you even have a chance for victory?"

'This isn't good...' thought Kakashi, alert. "What are you all doing?! I told you to run away! The outcome of this battle was decided when I got caught! Run! Our mission is to protect Tazuna-san! Did you forget that?!"

Naruto turned and looked at Tazuna. "Old man..."

"Don't worry. I caused all of this in the first place. I won't say that I want to survive no matter what," said Tazuna, handing over his fate. Sakura and Sasuke looked at him as he said this. "Sorry, everyone. Fight as much as you want."

"That's how it is," said Sasuke aloud.

"Are you ready?" asked Naruto.

Zabuza's clone laughed again. This time, a long, cold, hard laugh. "You sure don't learn, do you?"

"What?" asked Naruto.

"Still pretneding to be ninja? When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood."

Tazuna, Sakura and Naruto all looked on in horror at these words from Zabuza. On Sasuke's face horror could be seen as well.

"The Demon Zabuza," said Kakashi, turning to look at the real Zabuza who was holding him prisoner in the blue orb.

"It looks like you've heard of me," said Zabuza.

"A long time ago, the Hidden Village of the Mist was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist," said Kakashi. "In that village, there existed an obstacle to become a ninja."

"So you know about the final test there." The real Zabuza turned and looked at the trapped Kakashi.

"The final test?" asked Naruto, curious. Zabuza laughed. "Hey, what is that 'final test?'" demanded Naruto.

Zabuza laughed again. "Students killing eachother," said Zabuza, almost a grim happiness in his voice.

Naruto was filled with pure shock, making him wish he had never asked at all.

"Students who had eaten from the same pot are seperated into groups of two and forced to fight eachother..." explained Zabuza. "Until one of them is killed. This is done with friends that have helped eachother, shared their dreams and competed together."

"That's awful," said Sakura stating the obvious. Her eyes were wide, her arms in front of her.

"Ten years ago, the Hidden Village of the Mist had to go through a reformation," said Kakashi, finishing the story. "Because, in the previous year a monster appeared that finally decided it."

"A reformation...?" questioned Sakura. "What did the monster do?"

"A small boy who had not even gained the right to become a ninja killed more then one hundred of the candidates that year, and killed them all without hesitation."

"That was fun," said Zabuza.

Sasuke and Naruto were clearly and visibly horrified at this. They could hardly comprehend it. Zabuza ran forward and elbowed Sasuke in the stomache, causing him to fly up and fall, knocking the air from his body. He elbowed him again in the stomache, causing him to spit out blood.

"Sasuke-kun!" shrieked Sakura, whirling around.

Zabuza planted one of his feet on Sasuke's stomache. The opposite arm ready to pull out the sword which was on his back. He continued to press with his foot, causing Sasuke to grunt and groan with pain. Blood trickled down one side of his mouth.

"Die." It came from Zabuza.

"Damn it," said Naruto, making a hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Narutos appeared, surrounding Sasuke and Zabuza.

"Oh, the shadow replication? And you replicated quite a few," said Zabuza, not amazed at all.

All of the Narutos wielded a kunai. "Here I come!" they said in unison.

Zabuza had stepped off Sasuke and Sasuke now weakly rose, to kneel on his knees on the ground.

The Narutos attacked. Completly surounding - and I mean completely, they were even on top of - Zabuza. Sasuke was outside this attack, kneeling. Zabuza broke free, causing the replicated Narutos to be thrown in every direction.

"It's impossible!" shouted Zabuza. "You can't beat a guy like that!"

The sliding Narutos disappeared. 'I can only use this method to beat him now,' thought one of them, digging through his bag, looking for something. "Sasuke!" shouted the Naruto, yelling as he threw a collapsed Fuuma Shuriken to the forementioned.

'I see what you want do, Naruto,' thought Sasuke. 'It's pretty good, considering it came from you!'

Sasuke opened the large shuriken and said, holding it in front of him, "The Fuuma Shuriken, the Shadow Windmill."

"A Shuriken won't work on me," said Zabuza matter-of-factly.

Sasuke jumped, flipped and threw the Shuriken while still in the air. The Shuriken flew around the clone and headed straight towrds the real Zabuza. "I see," the real one said. "So you're going after the real one this time. But it's too easy for me!" Zabuza caught the Fuuma Shuriken.

'Another Shuriken was in the shadow of the first Shuriken?' thought Zabuza, amazed. 'The the Kage Shuriken no Jutsu.'

'A second Shuriken was in his blind spot?' thought Sakura.

Zabuza jumped over the second Shuriken. "But it's still too easy for me," he said calmly.

'He dodged it!' Sakura thought, shocked and amazed. She couldn't understand the idea.

Sasuke smirked and the Shruiken turned into a Kunai wielding Naruto. Tazuna gasped.

"This is it!" yelled Naruto throwing the Kunai at an amazed Zabuza who was looking over his shoulder.

----------------------------

'I'm dead.' That was the one thought running through Rinji's subconcious mind.

'No I'm not.' Another part of her mind argued.

'Yes, I am.'

'No.'

'Yes.'

'If I was I wouldn't be thinking.'

'I'm in heaven.'

'No.'

'Yes.'

'No. I'm alive. Just open my eyes.'

'I'm dead!'

'No. I'm alive. I am alive.

* * *

Zabuza removed his hand from the floating blue orb as the Kunai neaely hit him. His we forced to move to the side to dodge it. The water clone disipitated and blood flowed from the cut the Kunai had made under Zabuza's eye. Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna were in shock as Zabuza began to spin the Fuuma Shuriken he had in hand. Naruto's eyes were wide as he feel from where he had thrown the Kunai, almost positive he would be hit by the Fuuma Shuriken, even though it had not yet been thrown. 

"You damn kid!" Zabuza yelled, rushing forward.

Blood flew. It was not Naruto's. A sopping Kakashi stood in front of Naruto, where he was falling, his arm up, the Fuuma Shuriken stuck in t. Blood fell from it, mixing with the water below. Kakashi was looking down. Naruto fell in the water behind kakashi and went under.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura practically cheered, ecstatic. Naruto laughed as he came above water.

"Naruto, you plan was impressive," Kakashi praised. "You all have sure grown."

Naruto laughed. "I used the shadow clone replication to hide the fact that I transformed into a Fuuma Shuriken. I didn't do it to defeat Zabuza," Naruto explained. "I left one of my replications, and I transformed into the Fuuma Shuriken. Then my replica threw me, now a Fuuma Shuriken, to Sasuke. Sasuke noticed it was me right after he caught it. Then he took out his own shuriken and used the shadow shuriken technique. I hid in the shadow of the real Shuriken, and went straight for Zabuza.

"I knew I couldn't deafet Zabuza jut by that, of course. But I thought if I could just try to break the hydro-prison, maybe things would turn around... We were also able to get rid of the water clone, so it was a sucess!" Naruto finished, sounding really proud.

"It was just luck," commented Sasuke.

"It was just luck!?" accused Tazuna.

'But being able to pull off such nice teamwork in a situation like this...' thought Sakura in amazement. 'Those two hate each other so much, too.'

"I lost myself temporarily and cancelled the Hydro-Prison technique..." added Zabuza.

"No," said Kakashi firmly. "You didn't cancel the tecnique. You were forced to. let me just tell you that the same technique won't work against me twice."

"What are you going to do?"

"Sakura," said Sasuke. "Don't let your guard down." Sakura nodded and the two stepped in front of Tazuna, blocking him with their arms.

Tazuna collapses the Fuuma Shuriken which is still in Kakashi's hand, sending a wave of pain through the Copy-Nin. Zabuza pushes down with the Shuriken, causing Kakashi to lower his arm. With a wave of energy, Kakashi pushes his arm outwards, causing the Fuuma Shuriken to go flying. Both hop backwards, standing on the water.

Zabuza does a hand steal. Kakashi's Sharingan eye widens, Naruto gasps and Sasuke says, "Sharingan..."

Zabuza lands on the water and continues to do hand seals, chanting. Kakashi the same. "Bird," both yell at the same time, doing the bird hand seal. "Suiton Suiryuudon no Jutsu!" both say at the same time as two huge orbs of water come out of the water below.

Th orbs turn to dragons made of water and rise up into the air, circling and enwining eachother. Then they attack. The head of the two water dragons rush forward and meet. The collide and cause the heads to mush and rain down. This rain constantly being fed by the water in the lake. Naruto gets caught in a wave as it feeds into the body of the dragon, to participate in the rain down.

Another wave rushes over the land. Sasuke, Tazuna and Sakura brace for impact. Sasuke got the worst of it, some of the wave nearly going over his bent over head. He was in front of the others.

The water dragons continue rage, thrashing around, bititing and throwing water everywhere.

'He formed that many seals in just a few seconds, and copied them perfectly,' thought Sasuke, about Tazuna and Kakashi.

'What is this?' thought Sakura who had her arms Tazuna who was on the ground, attempting to protect him. 'Is this a ninja technique?'

Naruto pushed his head bove the water and breathed the air in heavily. Kakashi now held a Kunai with both hands, pushing against the blade of Zabuza's sword, the water raining down around them from the two water dragons.

'Something's weird... What's going on...?' thought Zabuza. 'Sharingan is supposed to be an ability where the user memorizes the opponent's technique and copies it. But... The technique was executed at the same time. Did he...' Kakashi and Zabuza were still pushing their weapons against the other's, locked in battle. 'This guy...!'

Both of them jumped backwards at the same time, causing everyone to gasp in amazement. The ran around in a circle, never meeting eachother. The stopped. Zabuza did a hand seal. Kakashi did a hand seal... at the same time.

"Their moving the same!" stated Zabuza. "And with such perfect timing!"

"What's going on, Sasuke-kun?" asked a worried Sakura from where she sat.

* * *

_A/N: _Okay, here's the first part. The next part will come later. Also, the old chapter nine is now part of chapter 8 and I edited the first few chapters. 

Second part Added, July 18, 2007


	10. Chapter 10

Sasuke didn't reply.

'This guy...' thought Zabuza. 'My movement is being perfectly...' He brung his arm down from in the air.

"Predicted by him," said Kakashi allowed, finished off Zabuza's thought.

'What? He ready what I was going to say in my mind?' thought Zabuza, confused. Tabuza switched hand seals. 'Damn it. This guy...'

"Has such unpleaseant eyes. Right?" said Kakashi, finishing his opponets thoughts once more.

Zabuza switched hand seals again. "Heh. What your doing is copying, nothing original," he countered.

"You can't beat me, you monkey," the two Jounin's said at the same, exact time.

Shocked, Zabuza started doing hand seals rapidly. "I'll make it so you never open that copy cat mouth of yours again!" He looked over at Kakashi. 'That's...' A shadow form of Zabuza stood behind Kakashi, to the left. It started to become visible and it looked exactly like Zabuza. 'Me? That can't be. Is he using an illusionary technique?'

"Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu," said Kakashi. The commas, in his Sharingan eye starting to swirl around the pupil, faster and faster until they were simply a blur.

"Wha... What?" shouted out Zabuza, in shear shock. Water curved and arched over Kakashi's head. Swirling around and around. The water flew forward in a ball. Zabuza dropped his stance and shouted, "This can't be!" He out his arms in front of his bent head as the water hit him. He yelled as he was forced under the swirling water, steal yelling even when under. He was thrown around and around in circles.

'I was the once who tried to execute the technique, but I couldn't...' he thought while under the water, his eyes wide open. The waves from the attack swarmed everywhere, knocking over trees and tearing bushes out by their roots. 'Keep up with his technique!' Zabuza was still being thrown everywhere while under the water by the current, himself having barely any control. He crashed to the ground as the water tore along through the woods.

Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna were all screaming as the water attacked them as well, though not as severely. Naruto, himself was being pushed under the water but always managed to come back up. He tried to swim, but waves kept crashing into him. He was thrown onto the ground and clung onto a tree, bare of leaves. He heard coughing and looked and saw Rinji clinging to the same tree. "You okay?" asked Rinji.

"Yep," sputtered Naruto.

Zabuza was flung against a tree and pinned there by the water. Kunai's flew. The water had receded to only knee deep on Zabuza. Kakashi was kneeling on the branch of the tree to wich Zabuza was pinned. "This is the end," he said.

The water receded back into the pond, having left detruction in their wake. "Why?" Zabuza asked looking up at Kakashi. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah," said Kakashi. He raised a Kunai. "You're going to die."

Needles flew and hit Zabuza in the neck. He fell. Blood flew in an upwards arch. Naruto, Sakura, Tazuna and Sasuke gasped at this sudden turn of events. Kakashi looked out at the trees and saw a figure standing on the branch of one of them. Zabuza hit the ground and figure giggled. "It was true. He did die," the figure said.

Naruto pulled himself out of the water using the branch and then helped a still clinging Rinji. Naruto looked up at the figure, teeth clenched and then down at the dead Zabuza whose eyes were wide open.

"What happened?" Rinji asked, not knowing all that had taken place since she had been knocked out. Kakashi hopped from the tree and landed next to Zabuza's head. He extended two fingers to check for a pulse, on the neck of his ex-opponent. A few seconds later, it was confirmed. "He really is dead," said Kakashi. Kakashi looked to the figure which bowed.

"Thank you very much," it said. "I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

"That mask..." said Kakashi trailing off. "If I remember correctly, you must be a Hunter-Nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist."

"You are very well informed," said the Hunter-Nin, rising from the bow.

"A Hunter-Nin?" questioned Naruto, sliding from next to Sakura to in front of Tazuna. Rinji stood to Sasuke's side.

"You don't know what a Hunter-Nin is?" asked Sakura, once again amazed by Naruto's lack of knowledge. "You should of learned it in the academy. Hunter-Nin's are those who assassinate exiled ninja like Zabuza, who, for some reason, go against the village they were born in. They do it to conceal any secret of their village. That's commonsense! You should study more."

"Yes," said the Hunter-Nin, still in the tree. "I am a member of the pursuing ninja unit that hunt exiled ninja."

'From his voice and his height, he must not be much different then Naruto and the others,' thought Kakashi. 'Yet, he is a Hunter-Nin.' The wind blew. 'He is no ordinary kid.'

Naruto ran up, closer to the branch where the hunter stood. He looked to where Kakashi was still sitting beside Zabuza and then back up into the tree. Back down, back up. "Who the hell are you?!" Naruto demanded, pointing a finger at the hunter. Obviously, it was inconceivable to Naruto that a kid about his age, maybe younger, maybe a but older, was a better ninja than him.

Sakura, Rinji, Tazuna and Sasuke gasped a bit in suprise. Naruto breathed hard, still pointing accusingly. "Who are you?!" he demanded again.

"Calm down Naruto," said Kakashi, standing up. "He is not an enemy.

"That's not what I'm asking," said Naruto, turning around to face his teacher. "But... Zabuza was killed." He stressed the name. Kakashi walked towrds a still talking Naruto. "He... He was so strong, but he was killed so easily by a kid who's not that different from me! We... We look like idiots," Naruto complained. "I can't accept this!"

"I understand how you can't believe it," said Kakashi, stopping his walk near Naruto, hands in pockets. "But this is real." He put a hand on Naruto's hand. "In this world there are kids who are younger than you... and stronger than me."

Sasuke grimanced as Kakashi said this. Naruto clearly hated this fact. Wind surrounded the Hunter-Nin and he disappeared. The Hunter then re-appeared by Zabuza, in the same wind, crouching. Picking up the body, the Nin said, "Your battle ends here for now. I must go dispose of this corpse. It's a body filled with secrets. If you'll excuse me." And with that the Hunter-Nin was gone, disappearing into the wind.

"He disappeared," said Naruto. Kakashi pulled his forehead protector back over his Sharingan eye. Naruto ran to the spot from which the Hunter-Nin had disappeared.

"They're not around here anymore," Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto knelt down and star.ed punching the ground. "What was that?!" He alternated fists as he punched. Right, left. "What were we...?!"

"Naruto," said Sakura softly.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he repeated over and over. Kakashi walked forward, closely tagged by Rinji. Kakashi grabbed Naruto's wrist as he brung it back to punch again. It was the bandaged one.

"Things like this happen when your a ninja," said Kakashi simply. "If you don't like it, make it up next time." He let Naruto go.

"Just bear it," Rinji murmered.

"Our mission hasn't ended yet," Kakashi said to the others. "We need to take Tazuna-san to his house."

"Sorry about that, everyone!" said Tazuna brightly, laughing. "Just rest at my house!"

"All right, let's cheer up and go!" announced Kakashi, turning to go. He stopped in mid step, eye wide and fell to the gasps of everyone. Naruto and Rinji ran forward to Kakashi, stoon followed by the others.

"What? What happened?" asked Sakura in shock.

Rinji knelt down beside Kakashi as Naruto said, "Kakashi-sensei...?" Then he yelled the same thing.

She felt for a pulse. "He's alive."

"How do you know?" Naruto asked worridly.

She grabbed Naruto's first two fingers and put them where her's had been moments ago. "Feel that?" she asked. "That's his pulse."

"Oh..." said Naruto dazedly.

**------------------------**

Laying in bed at Tazuna's house, Kakashi thought, 'I used my Sharingan too much.'

"Are you okay, Sensei?" asked a women.

"No," said Kakashi. "I'll barely be able to move for a week..." He sat up on the bed on the floor.

"Then you shoujldn't move for a while," said the women.

"Okay..." said Kakashi reluctantly, laying back down. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Rinji and Tazuna entered the room.

"Sensei's awake," said Naruto in dibelief.

"Sharingan is amazing, but it puts alot of strain on the body. I'm not sure if it's good or bad," said Sakura sitting down beside Kakashi.

"I'm sorry," said Kakashi.

Tazuna said, "But you defeated such a strong ninja. We should be alright for a while."

"By the way," said Sakura curiously. "Who was that boy with the mask?"

"He had the mask of a pursuing ninja from a special squad from the Hidden Village of the Mist's ANBU..."

"A special squad?" repeated Sakura.

"They are also known as the fire extinguishing unit, and their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive. A ninja's body will give away the secrets of ninja techniques and Chakra of the village it was in, any specific medicine that was used on the body along with various other things. For example, if I die the secret to the Sharingan will be examined... And in the worst case scenario, there's a possibility that my techniques including the Sharingan will be stolen," said Kakashi.

"In other words, pursuing ninja will kill exiled ninja who have abandoned the village, dispose of the ninja's body... And stop any secrets of the village from being revealed. They are specialists in the field," said Rinji, finishing off Kakashi's explanation.

"How'd you know that?" asked Tazuna. "Your just a little girl."

"It was pretty easy to figure out, given Kakashi-san's explenation, Tazuna-san," said Rinji.

"Oh," commented Sakura, while Inner Sakura was thinking, '"Show off!"'

**--------------------**

Kakashi was sitting up in his bed, one hand on his forhead protector, thinking. 'What is this? Zabuza is dead but, what is this uneasiness? It seems like... I've missed something important...'

"What's wrong, Sensei?" Naruto asked from where he sat in the room.

"Oh, about what I was talking about before..." said Kakashi. "Pursuing ninha are supposed to eliminate the corspe on the spot."

"So?" asked Sakura.

"What did the boy with the mask do to Zabuza?"

"How should I know? He took Zabuza away."

"That's right. All he needed to rbign back was the head for proof. Also, the weapon the boy used to kill Zabuza is questionable."

"It was just a long needle," Sasuke put in. "Could it be that...?"

"Zabuza is still alive?" asked Rinji, putting the pieces together.

"Yeah, it's just that," said Kakashi.

"Huh?" said Naruto, putting a hand to his head.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna asked, not understanding.

"Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi said it very decisevly, sitting up straight.

"What?" Tazuna, Sakura and Naruto all shrieked. "What?" said the women who was Tazuna's daughter.

"What does that mean?" asked Naruto worridly.

"But you confirmed that he died, Kakashi-sensei," countered Sakura.

"I did confirm it," repeated Kakashi. "The weapon that the Hunter-Nin used has a low fatility rate unless it hits a critical spot. It's mostly used in acupuncture healings and such. Pursuing ninja know the structure of a human body very well. It should be easy for them to put a person in a near-death state. First, her took home the corpse of Zabuza, even when it was obvious the body was heavier then himself. Second, he used a weapon with a low fatility rate. From these two points the goal of the boy was not to kill Zabuza, but to help him."

"Maybe your thinking too much," Tazuna suggested, not wanting it to be true.

"No," said Kakashi. "Once a ninja feels something weird he must prepare for it before it's too late. It's one of the ninja's iron rules. Naruto was shaking, a fist clenched in front of him, seemingly happy for another chance to fight Zabuza.

'He's happy to hear that Zabuza might be alive,' thought Kakashi.

"Sensei, how are you going to prepare for this before it's too late?" asked Sakura. "You can't move for a while..."

Kakashi laughed and Sakura looked confused. "I'm going to make all of you go through some training," said Kakashi, stressing the word all.

"Wait," said Sakura. "Even if we train, it's not going to be very helpful. Since the enemy is a ninja that you, Kakashi-sensei, the Sharingan user had a difficult time with." Inner Sakura screamed, '"Damn it! Are you trying to kill us?"'

"Sakura," said Kakashi. "Who saved me when I had a difficult time? You guys are growing at a rapid rate. Especially you, Naruto. You've grown the most."

Naruto smiled at these words of praise from his teacher.

'Wait a minute,' thought Rinji confused. 'Naruto saved Kakashi-san?'

Looking at Naruto, Sakura thought, 'It does seem that he has become more reliable but...'

"You know your stuff Kakashi-sensei. Now things are getting interesting!" exclaimed Naruto happily.

"No it's not," said a voice, causing everyone to turn and look at the new person. It was a black haired kid, about the same age as Rinji.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto, pointing a finger at him.

"Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna asked from where he sat.

"I'm home, grandpa," shouted Inari, running over and hugging Tazuna.

"Inari, say hello to them. These are the ninja that escorted grandpa," said Tazuna's daughter, hands on her hips looking at Inari where he was hugging Tazuna.

"It's okay. Right, Inari?" said Tazuna, patting Inari on the head.

Inari looked across the room. From Sakura, to Naruto, to Sasuke to Rinji. "Mom," he said standing and turning to his mother. "They're going to die. There is no way a person can win by going against Gato.

"What did you say, you brat!?" shouted Naruto standing up and shaking a fist at Inari. "Listen up, I'm a super hero who's going to become a great ninja known as Hokage!" He pointed a finger at Inari. "I don't know who this Gato is, but he's no enemy of mine."

"A hero? How stupid. There is no such thing as heros," said Inari looking at the ground.

"Wha..." said Naruto choking over the word in disbelief. "What did you say?" He walked forward only to have Sakura grab him from behind.

"Stop it!" she said.

"If you don't want to die you should go home," said the pessimisstic Inari. He walked away.

"Where are you going, Inari?" asked Tazuna.

"I'm going to watch the ocean."

"I'm sorry." Tazuna turned to Naruto who was still struggling to get away from Sakura who was still restraining him.

**-------------------**

"Damn it," said Naruto as he climbed the stairs, barefooted. "I need to tell him a thing or two." He was closly followed by Rinji, but didn't notice her in his rage. He walked down the hall, Rinji hiding behind the corner behind him. When he stopped at Inari's door and listened, she darted forward.

'He's crying?' they both thought, Naruto peering through the crack.

Inari was sitting on his desk in front of the open window, crying, trying to supress it. "Dad..." he said.

Naruto looked symphathetic and turned started to go into the room. Rinji caught his wrist and shook her head and out a finger on her lips to stop the suprised Naruto from crying out. She motioned for the stairs. Once they were safely down them, she said, "You don't know that he was crying." She started to walk away.

"Why'd you follow me?" Naruto demanded.

Rinji shrugged. "It was my first mission." And with that, she left.

**--------------------**

Later on, in the forest, Kakashi said, "We will now begin the training."

"Roger!" Shouted Naruto. Sakura was to his left, Rinji to his right and Sasuke next to Rinji.

"But before that," he said raising a finger. "Let me once again talk about Chakra, the base for ability as a ninja." He was on crutches.

"At a time like this?" asked Sasuke dully from where he stood.

"I already know about that," chimed in Naruto brightly. "Chatra, right?"

"It's Chakra," said Kakashi, annoyed. Naruto was amazed by his own dumbness. "Alright, Sakura-kun."

"Listen, Naruto, I'm going to explain this in a simple matter to save time," said the forementioned, hands on hips. "Chakra is energy that a ninja needs to utalize a technique. That energy comes from the body energy that is collected in every cell in the body... And from the spirit energy that comes from training and practice." She crossed her arms. "In otherwords, techniques come from these two energies that are squeezed out of the body and molded together. This process is known as molding the Chakra. And with this Chakra... one is able to execute a technique by forming a seal." He formed a hand seal.

"Correct," said Kakashi. "Iruka-sensei was blessed with a nice student, I see."

"What's with that? You can just learn that stuff with your body, even if you don't understand the hard stuff," complained Naruto.

"Exactly what Naruto said," Sasuke agreed, shocking everyone. "We're able to use techniques, anyway."

"No, you guys arn't able to use your chakra completly," said Kakashi.

"What?!" screeched a shocked Naruto.

"Just listen up. Like Sakura said, molding the chakra means to... extract energies from both the body and the spirit and mix them up in your body. And the amount of each energy will differ depending on what technique you want to do."

"In other words, the mixing will be different," said Rinji, looking up.

"Exactly," said Kakashi before continueing. "You are not able to use your Chakra effectively. Even if you're able to mold a large amount of Chakra, if you can not control the balance the technique will not be half as effective or will not be executed at all. Wasting energy will create a weakness of not being able to fight for a long time, just as Rinji is doing know." He had sensed a new Chakra, not like Naruto's, Sasuke's or Sakura's, a while back when Sakura had first explained about molding Chakra. It could only be her.

Everyone turned to look at her and she quickly blushed. "Sorry," she murmered, looking down at the ground. "Umm... what should we do to control our Chakra better?" she asked, trying to turn the stares away from her.

"You're going to learn how to control it with your body," said Kakashi. "You must go through rigourus training where you put your life on the line."

"So," said Sakura. "What are we going to do?"

"Climb trees."

* * *

_A/N: _Please don't hurt me for not updating in a while. Please don't. I've been in D.C and now I'm going to go to camp. Please don't hurt me!!! I hoped you like the chapter anyway. I just had to bring Rinji back to conciousness there. I couldn't figure out how to keep her from drowning otherwise. 


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